Firebolt
by blaurgh
Summary: With employees at odds against another at the weather factory, a pompous pegasus kept his fame until a daring pegasus, Rainbow Dash, affronted him and made him into a public mockery. Humiliated, Firebolt seeks vengeance against her.
1. Chapter 1

Firebolt

Chapter 1

Don't respect those who disrespect you. The growing numbers of subordinate workers at the weather factory seemed to take this idea into heart towards their captains and managers. That's why it isn't a surprise that the weather factory had yet again closed in business for another week. When will Equestria come to realize that without harmony among the workers, there is no cloud production; without cloud production, there is no rain; and without rain, there's no chance for me to show every pony once again the awesomeness of my art of lightning? Well of course there are other worse issues that can be present if the earth cannot be hydrated periodically; to name a few, higher risks of fire, more dried up lakes, warmer climate, and skyrocketing sales of ice cream.

But nonetheless, I found solace in leaning onto the comic book section stand outside of Cloudsdale supermarket, tasting the sweetness of my chocolate ice cream while the bright sun kisses my face. The busy chatter and latest gossip swarm all over the clear, blue sky concerning yesterday's flying competition and its post-celebration that honors the first place winner tomorrow afternoon at Ponyville's main square.

I lowered my sunglasses to glance at the elderly bystander picking out his bit to purchase the latest news of the weather factory and placed my own rolled up daily in front of him.

"I got you covered," I assured him and shot him a winning smile. "Oh no, don't need to thank me sir, just doing what I can to be of assistance."

And just as I expected, the gentle Pegasus grew astonished. "Hey wait a second; you're the pony who created that huge powerful lightning bolt at the flying competition."

"Ah, so you were there," I replied, chuckling at his admiration.

"Well no, but this dark blue colored pony with freckles on his cheeks told me so; quite lively if you ask me. Oh, and also that you're going to be performing almost the same feat again later this evening… with a little 'pizzazz' as he puts it. "

Already knowing who had informed him of my famous history, I casually check out the colorful marketplace packed full of pegasus ponies, minding their own business, until a female voice suddenly squealed in delight from behind me.

"Firebolt! Look every pony, it's him!"

Then as if on cue, every pegasus cast their starry eyes at me, their idle chatter quickly changed into wonder and congratulations of me winning second place of the flying competition.

"That flying routine you've performed was nothing I've ever seen before," commented a mare Pegasus.

"Did you design that routine?" asked a young colt.

Struggling to think of an answer while being overwhelmed of this rushed occasion, I trotted towards the glorious pillared temple that towers over the open, piercing white plaza and was about to speak before they've suddenly cocked their ears upward and looked towards the sky. Then I heard it too, a familiar wind gushing sound that was once displayed during a performance at the flying competition. In the matter of a split second, a couple of young colts and mares all cried out in cheers, "Rainbow Dash!" Without notice, a light blue colored mare zoomed over the marketplace and stopped abruptly to greet her fans with a wave.

If her daring, self-confident attitude doesn't make a great impression, it's her long, flowing, rainbow colored mane and tail, and a vivid rainbow lightning bolt cutie mark on her rump that can catch a blind pony's eyes.

"Ponies of Cloudsdale, your grand prize winner of yesterday's flying competition have arrived!" Her voice cracked at the end of her opening. She doesn't need a grand opening; everybody in Cloudsdale knew that she's the only pegasus of all Equestria who can create the sonic rainboom, a once legendary pony myth that finally became possible by her raw ability.

The attention I've once received by my very presence quickly transferred to her. A pang of jealousy, mixed with utter annoyance, provoked me to throw down my ice cream cone through the cloud as the ponies in the marketplace went loose in applause. Before I could confront her, she nose-dived into the cloud, followed by a powerful wind blowing down my face, and snatched my ice cream cone from its eternal fate.

_Idiot! Always had to steal the spotlight._

Expecting Rainbow Dash to make her appearance again, I ruffled my wings, adjusted my sunglasses, and stood up tall with my head high. She then reappeared above the clouds near my level, her hoof on her hip and the other outstretched holding the ice cream cone pretentiously. "Never fear! Your friendly neighbor Rainbow Dash is here!" She looked around the crowd that sighed with comical relief, amused of her cocky sense of humor. "Now who's the lucky ice cream owner wishing to thank me for my extraordinary heroism?"

A wise decision was to turn and walk away from the scene, leaving Rainbow to search for its owner in vain, but I wanted to rip that smugly grin off of her face. "I could thank you, but I would be lying. You didn't strike me as the heroic type, let alone 'friendly' for that matter."

Two things had made visible to my awareness as her countenance slowly changed: One, her bright magenta eyes closed into mine, growing slightly intimidating, while her body language kept cool. Two, I can almost hear every single rumor running around every pony's mind as their eyes penetrate both of us. Recently, I've heard of one rumor that Rainbow and I were separated at birth and still had not realized that we're related. My personal favorite is that we're the reincarnation of the legendary stallion and mare who fought until their death; a classic depiction of discord between all courting mares and stallions. Now here's one rumor that I will shoot a lightning bolt at any pony who dares to whisper it: that we're perfect soul mates.

She simply rolled her eyes with an irritated sigh, tossing the cone into my hoofs, and shouted, "Way to be a wet blanket, Bolt! Can't you see I'm a little busy here with my fans?!"

Her comment released another round of squeals from her younger fandom and hoofs stomping thunderously against the cloud pavements. Nonetheless, I swept back my long, fiery mane, my hoof lingering on the back of my head, and gave it a little shake. A chorus of infatuated pegasi mares swooned in my direction as well as the envious awes of the stallions.

"Ouch, RD! Is that how you-?"

"I think you forget who you're talking to!" Rainbow replied sharply, "You know that I only allow my best friends to call me by my nickname."

A smirk formed on the sides of my cheeks as I walked up closer to her and placed the tips of my hoof on my lips. "Remember the rule of thumb here: always allow the other pony to finish speaking. If you were to remember that back at St. Cloud Elementary school, you wouldn't have gotten expelled for…" I pushed my sunglasses up to meet her stark, magenta colored eyes. "…insubordination."

She plopped herself on my cloud on all her four legs, glaring down at me menacingly; her famous attack method of shooting down her enemy's self-confidence in which it never seemed to faze me. "Well, at least I wasn't the pegasus on my knees begging for me to stay friends with you."

The audience grew silent, as if not daring to breathe, as I placed my sunglasses over my eyes and raised my head high. This isn't the first time that she attacks me with our past, but I've learned to never lose my cool in front of public. Other than that, she's very close into facing my wrath.

She made a brief side glance at her audience before returning her attention to me with a cocky smile and slowly walked up towards me. "And I turned out all right. I didn't need fame to be confident; just the pleasure of finally realizing that with friends like you… who needs enemies." She stopped in front of me and lifted my sunglasses onto my head. My jaw clenched and my hoof tightened around my ice cream cone as she added, "Especially when I found out that the most amazing hotshot like you was crying for mommy and daddy to come save you from that—"

I shoved the chocolate ice cream cone into her face. A very risky move considering that the entire marketplace had been eavesdropping on our conversation and soon will witness something that will make the headlines. Enraged, Rainbow shook the ice cream off her face and charged into me. Our bodies rolled off the cloud and sent us free falling. Her hoofs nearly kicking my stomach, I thrust her down below me and locked her arms behind her back, pressing my full weight on her as much as possible. Our wings entangled together. The bottom-drop sensation intensified as the ground rapidly comes closer. Rainbow had forgotten her rage and started yelling, "Bolt! Let go of my wings!"

"Get your wings out of mine!" I snapped back.

The unforgiving ground grew closer by every second and our frantic attempts to spread our wings became futile. Flashbacks revisited my senses; a black earth crushing my scapula, scraping against my belly's side, my own guttural shriek ringing in my ears, and a sudden image of my parents watching me from above against a bright, white light. I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for my end, until I plunge into a soft, fluffy, foam-like ground. Rainbow's body pressed against my stomach until I opened my eyes to see her looking appallingly at her three hovering saviors.

Rainbow's mouth dropped in amazement at the yellow pegasus with pink mane, who gently hugged her with such grace and softly asked, "Oh Rainbow Dash, are you ok?" She pulled away and smiled at her best friend. "I'm so glad that you're not injured. I couldn't have saved you if it wasn't for the help of these two stallions."

She pointed at a dark blue pegasus with freckles on his cheeks and purple mane, highlighted in light gray streaks, hanging over his forehead, his arms wrapped around the freshly made cloud. Almost ready to burst at the seams, he gave a wide cheesy grin with a glint in his eyes. "That was awesome, Firebolt! Did you see my slick moves?"

I exhaled in relief from the fall and raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh Storm Cloud, how was I going to see them if I was too busy falling?"

He placed his hoof over his mouth from laughing while pointing at me. "Heh heh, looks like you're still busy doing something with you-know-who."

Suddenly I noticed that my arms were still clinging tight around Rainbow Dash and immediately shoved her body away from me in disgust. Big mistake! She quickly faced me and sneered, "You're really asking for it."

Then a skinny, cerise pegasus with electric light blue mane and eyes, wearing a wire-rimmed, square shaped bifocals, grabbed my neck collar and shook me silly. "The real question is what had exactly entertained your dim-witted logic in falling off of Cloudsdale with… with…?"

His voice trailed off as he watched Rainbow Dash stand up on her fours and ruffle her wings, and his light blue eyes returned to me, his voice regaining. "How exactly did it happen?" I forced myself to keep my cool and push away the menacing images from my head. "I'll tell you later,"

I muttered and glared at Rainbow Dash who's now apologizing to Fluttershy for the stress she put her through.

Fluttershy looked over Rainbow Dash's shoulder at me and softly asked, "Are y-you ok too… um… Firebolt?"

"Well duh, he has to be. He and his lightning bolt team are having a meeting later in the evening to prepare for his famous, fiery lightning bolt performance," Storm Cloud promptly bragged.

Fluttershy grew timid and said trembling in fear, "Y-you mean that l-lightning bolt striking the g-ground with f-fire bursting all in one direction, making that loud, scary, startling, big b-bang… oh…" She placed both of her hoofs over her eyes as Rainbow Dash tried to console her, "Oh come on, Fluttershy, his lightning bolt is not a big deal! He's just showing off!"

I chose this time to rub it in Rainbow Dash's face. "If it's not a big deal, then why are all the personnel from the weather factory invited… including you, Captain Rainbow?" I emphasized her job status with a smirk as she flew up from the cloud and faced me.

"As if! I would never hang out with such an arrogant, selfish mule like you!"

Then Fluttershy hesitantly spoke up, "Oh uh, Rainbow Dash. We have to watch his performance. Twilight Sparkle wants us to be there to support her, remember?" Rainbow Dash slapped her head with a groan and sighed, "You're right; she has to give that boring speech." Then she narrowed her eyes at me and spread her wings out, making herself more threatening in appearance. "But only for my best friend is when I will come to your…" She sized me up before finishing her point. "… act."

Despite of the times that she always reveals her annoying robust personality, these are one of the rarest moments that I get to see her soft side: her loyalty towards her friends. Knowing that we both wanted our teams to work together to serve those who are now thirsting for water, perhaps this is the right time to finally try to cooperate with her, just as Sky Rocket advised me to do a long time ago. I forced myself to swallow down every bit of resentment to reassure her, but with only little success.

"Don't worry Rainbow, my performance will promote my team and your team to work together again in harmony, as well as the entire weather factory."

Fluttershy gaped a little and immediately occupied her attention to rubbing against her hoofs as Rainbow Dash looked at me with disapproval. "Doubt it! Every pony in their mother knows that you are so not modest. If you really mean that…" She leaned in closer to my face; her tone oozes with challenge. "Prove it."

Suddenly, Storm Cloud stood up against her and retorted, "You just wait and see Rainbow Dash! Firebolt can conquer anything that life can dish out! Especially your face!" It took all my strength to stifle the sudden laughter that threatened to come out of my mouth when Sky Rocket slapped his forehead and said in slight embarrassment, "Storm Cloud, you shouldn't talk to your captain in that manner." Rainbow Dash scornfully glanced at me until I fully realize my unprofessional insanity in taking Storm's comment as a joke. She finally flicked her tail in annoyance and flew away as Fluttershy gave me a sorrowful look and followed after her.

Before the weather factory had momentarily closed in operation, dusks were fairly comfortable; the setting sun had displayed rich violet and pink colors in the sky while the cool breeze blew the clouds together in preparation for the night. Nowadays, the warm atmosphere served no justice to simmer down my frustration.

Storm Cloud produced a small cumulus cloud from scratch, pushing the hot air to collide into the incoming night's cool breeze with his wings. "And that's how I managed to form a big enough cloud to catch you and Rainbow like a baseball glove!"

"Hey Storm Cloud! Can I sit on that for a minute?" Sky Rocket asked.

"Nope! You can sit on it for fifteen minutes," Storm grinned and teased Sky with his creation for a while before finally giving in and decided to jump onto my dark sullen cloud.

After explaining to Sky Rocket about why I didn't wait at the marketplace as we had planned, he took out his scroll and quill and focused on this evening's plan and said, "Well luckily, Firebolt's mishap didn't affect our schedule and hadn't broken any limb to hinder his ability to perform." I pressed my face into my cloud to muffle down my bitter ranting of my last encounter with Rainbow Dash.

Sky interrupted my destructive vivid imagination in hurting the mare pegasus in many inventive ways when he said, "Bolt just ignore her. Your mind should be focusing on your mission."

"And also to save your strength for it," Storm Cloud intervened.

I stood up and stomped my hoof defiantly, causing a loud lightning bolt to strike across the cloud, "That whole making amends thing didn't work! She still hates me!"

Storm Cloud pointed at me while glancing at Sky Rocket. "See! I knew that wasn't going to work. I'm telling you, Rainbow Dash is very feisty; a pegasus whom your logic can't even restrain the passionate fire that indwells in her soul." Sky ignored his comment and focused on me.

"Bolt, this approach won't produce desirable results over night, it takes time." I slammed my face back into my cloud and grumbled, "I hate waiting."

Storm Cloud picked my face up and squished my cheeks with his front hoofs to form a smile, "Turn that frown upside down! Just ignore that mean old bad pony and don't let her get the best of you." He finished his gushing with a few pats on my head before I slapped his hoof away from me.

Sky relaxed a little and read aloud our game plan. "Firebolt, remember the steps I've taught you to perform a safe—" I interrupted him nonchalantly, jumping out of my gloom, and pushed my torso out.

"Yeah yeah, I got this in the bag."

Storm Cloud was right; I will ignore the past and focus on being the best that I can be. Then Storm flew up next to my side and pumped his fist in the air as he cheered, "Root! Root!" Sky grew serious and cocked his brow at me.

"Are you sure you ready to pull this off?"

"Oh come on Sky, you know me for how long? I can do anything what life can dish out," I reiterated my best friend's comment confidently.

"Good!" Sky answered as he pushed his glasses up and pointed behind me. "Because your manager is here." I quickly turned around, and lo and behold, a white, muscle-built pegasus with short-trimmed yellow mane was hovering right before me.

"Firebolt!" He barked out, "Situate your subordinates in a circle! We're starting our session now."

"Right away sir!" I managed to react, slightly startled by the volume of his voice.

My co-workers glanced at me as I approached them and immediately lowered their ears and darted their eyes left and right. My orders were simple and direct; they knew not to step over the line I drew so vividly since the last time I've unleashed my wrath against any petty disruption during work hours. Unfortunately for them, my innate determination and hardworking character promoted me to assistant manager within months, even though my high-esteemed glory of performing my special ability may have played the part. Nonetheless, with this high status comes responsibility; it would be very upsetting to see the lightning team become one of the increasing statistics of another weather corporate failing to maintain unity.

My vigorous manager flew into the circle's center and loudly proposed, "Based on what you've all read on today's newspaper, we're officially executing a new policy concerning the social conduct of our team. Once a day, an individual will demonstrate an act of encouragement to promote the value of teamwork. To present an example for this stiff-necked generation, the team will have Firebolt to perform an act this evening that will inspire the entire weather department to work together professionally without strife." The manager glanced at me with a stern look, "How are you going to handle this task?"

A casual flip of my mane made the team members' eyes grow wide in awe as I coolly responded, "With pleasure."

Underneath the city of Cloudsdale, my sweet home, the ponies that walk on land lived in a humble town called Ponyville. Many of my peers had visited the town and praised its intimate diverse community and entertaining public events for all to enjoy. Once a year, their mayor would establish an opportune date to pile up thousands upon thousands of unused fire torches that will last the entire year. Citizens stored fireflies in their lamps to provide alternate lighting for the darkening evening. In bird-eye view, tiny colorful ponies surrounded the mountain of torches, making certain that the result of the lightning bolt won't spread out of the designated area. The mayor of Ponyville hired a studious purple unicorn to supply safety equipment for those who will witness the annual event and also to enlighten their citizens the history of lightning.

My heart pounded harder and a new rush of adrenaline took over my every being as the crowd clapped their hoofs on the ground in appreciation after the unicorn left the podium to return to her friends, right next to Rainbow Dash with her arms crossed.

"Just inhale and exhale slowly," Sky Rocket advised, "this is only for once a year."

"Until next year," I mumbled, heeding to his advice.

My whole entire life revolved around this extremely important event. But twice, I have attempted to perform my special ability in front of my audience and chickened out at the last minute. And twice, I declined with a made-up excuse to not perform. Before my rump first shone my fire flamed lightning bolt cutie mark, the very idea of every pony praising me of my greatest achievement didn't seem possible until then.

As I sat onto a cloud right above the mountainous pile of torches, waiting for the signal, the memories I've sensed while free falling with Rainbow Dash revisited. _No, this time I won't chicken out_. As I fought against my own mind, Storm Cloud landed on a scattered cloud and informed that his clouds, made from scratch, are ready to use.

The mayor ended her unnecessary elongated speech, looked up into the violet sky, and gave the crucial signal. It's time. I flew up into the hovering black, dense cloud until I'm swimming in utter darkness, the smooth vapor cooling the sweat on my body and easing me to breathe in more deeply. Every rub and slide between the cloud and my wings made every strand of hair stood up as the friction enhances an electrical spark which tags along the tips of my tail. At that moment, I've imagined my lifetime dream in working as the CEO of all the weather factories in Equestria becoming a reality.

Every pegasus, unicorn, and pony will notice me as the famous image of lightning history. I can see it, feel it, and taste it, as long as the perpetual recurring images don't distract me in making this lightning bolt into a ball of inferno. Finally I hopped on top of the cloud and dive through it in increasing speed, pushing the fear of repeating the same accident as a young colt even harder as the dark, violet ground, speckled with firefly lamps, grew closer and closer.

_Come on Firebolt, you can do this_; I kept encouraging myself, and exerted all the bit of energy within me.

Suddenly, the earth nearly swallowed me whole and fear had gripped me hard until my wings spread out to a halt by mid distance from the clouds to the pile of torches. I panted heavily; trying to regain the bit of strength left enough for me to still flap my wings and wipe the sweat off my brow. Unfortunately, that's all I could produce at this time. The crowd began chattering in confusion; they were expecting a lightning bolt to strike down onto their hard work and yet only watched me, the only pegasus who inspired this annual event, merely staring at their dark, menacing landscape.

_I failed… again. _

The silence that seemed to last for hours was disrupted by the mayor's attempt to lighten the perplexity in the air. "Ladies and gentlecourts, let's give a round of applause for Mr. Firebolt. We all sometimes have our case of a stage fright." She looked up towards me from a couple of miles away and raised her voice, "Don't worry Mr. Firebolt, we can try again!"

Feeling a bit relieved for another opportunity yet more doubtful than ever, I looked up in hope to find any sign of visible spark coming down from the clouds, but only received a reminder of my failure to complete my teamwork promoting act and, most importantly, maintain my famous name.

Then a sudden laughter within the crowd from a distance roar out followed by a distinct cracking voice, "You guys should've seen the look on your faces." I looked down below to see Rainbow Dash flying up close to me and faced the rest of the citizens. "I still can't believe that the citizens of Ponyville have not yet asked why Firebolt is always making excuses to not perform his 'famous' act."

Hardly believing that she has the audacity to accuse me for bailing out of my mission… excuses or no excuses, I flew next to her and tapped her on the shoulder until she looks straight at me, surprised at my face close-up.

"Listen chick!" I pointed my hoof at her in frustration. "I don't hear anybody making excuses to call off the event! Now unless you're just hungry for attention by starting a scene, which in case you hadn't realized that that will only make you look like an idiot, just admit it in front of your friends and fans and quit taking the spotlight for once!"

"Oh yeah! Well why don't you take your own advice for once, Bolt; since you need it the most!" She butted her head into mine until our eyes are jabbing against each other.

But being fully conscientious of the world still watching us, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and she watched me repulsively as I spoke loud enough for the public to hear. "I'm sorry for the delay fellow citizens; remember that there are also times that some pony can be a bit… jealous. Especially when you got someone like me who can outshine a certain pegasus, whom I won't say her name."

This time I was ready to counteract her punches and kicks as a result of my boasting; but yet, she caught me off guard with a coy smile at me. With my arms still around her, she turned herself towards me and caressed my face with her hoof as she slowly spoke with the same volume, "I couldn't agree with you more, Firebolt. But may I ask you if that same pony who can outshine me, the coolest pony of Ponyville and Cloudsdale altogether, still be cool if the public knows that he's terrified to walk on land?"

Suddenly my mind drew a blank and unable to make a single comeback; so the citizens of Ponyville and the rest of the pegasi, who praised me as their role model, answered for me with an appalled gasps and murmurings of Rainbow Dash's remarkable question. I pulled away from her and looked around at all the faces that once esteemed me earnestly now beginning to doubt my ability to perform at all.

_This cannot be happening to me_.

The mayor stammered, "W-why that can't be true Rainbow Dash. If it were so, he would never agree to produce his lightning bolt for us."

Rainbow Dash assured her, "For your consideration, Mayor, I can tell if a pony who's just 'all talk and no show' when I see one." On that note, she drew near to elbow me and taunted, "No offense Bolt, but for you having that kind of a fear and to compare with me, I say I would be, you know, 20% cooler."

Perhaps the very mention of her comment or maybe the literal temperature of my head that produced from my burning humiliation is what caused the oddest thing to happen. In a split second, Rainbow backed away from me in shock while I saw a flash of white light surrounding me and felt a hot searing pain in my whole body, followed by an instantaneous blackout.


	2. Chapter 2

**this is also fixed!**

**R&R**

Firebolt 

Chapter 2

_Oh no… not again_.

With the familiar, empty blackness surrounding me, I begin to pick up a rhythmic beeping sound on my left ear range. My own breathing is at a slow pace, but my pulse throbbed against my whole body.

_Am I in a coma?_

I strained to open my eyes and shut them back tightly as soon as a bright, white light unmercifully brought a severing pain in every parts of my frontal lobe. Then I heard what sound like a chair creaking on my right and a surprised, lively voice sounded over me.

"Doctor, I see him moving. He's waking up!"

A skeptical, deep stallion voice responded, "Impossible, I've never seen a patient who can recover so quickly after getting struck by a lightning bolt."

Suddenly I felt a hoof touching my brow and lifted my eyelid open to greet me. Storm Cloud's light purple eyes, slightly covered under few of his light grey strands from his mane, came into clear view and he whispered, "Good morning sunshine. Wakey wakey!"

The sight of the pastel green sliding curtains and white walls behind Storm Cloud rejuvenated my strength and I sat up too quickly, my head collided into his.

"OW! Firebolt, what was that for?"

But I didn't pay any attention to him or the slight pain on my forehead; I was shaking too nervously and looking in all directions to see Sky Rocket's concerned face and the doctor standing next to him, scrutinizing my every move. The rapidly increasing rhythmic beeping sound on my left was an electrocardiogram, sitting next to an IV pump set.

Shaking my head in distress, I found the strength to speak groggily, "Oh Celestia, have mercy on me. Where am I? Someone tell me!"

The doctor, wearing his white, button-pressed scrub, answered calmly, "You are being hospitalized in Cloudsdale Emergency Hospital." He reached over my head and pushed a button to call a nurse and continued, "Please try to relax Mr. Firebolt, you had a very rough night."

The nurse came into the room and the doctor ordered her to get me some food and water. But before she left the room, Storm Cloud stopped her to ask for a cherry flavored gelatin. "And make it the way you like it," he added with a wink. Feeling a bit relieved after chuckling at Storm Cloud's awful flirtatious attempts, I lay back on my pillow and tried to recollect the events that happened before I've blacked out, yet was rewarded with an irritating headache.

On my right, I peeked outside through the ridiculously clean windows to see an almost visible orange glow creeping over the passing starless night sky. In my peripheral vision, a blue vase full of yellow paisleys sat on top of my nightstand and I placed my full attention in pulling out the get-well card from its stick. The typical condolences are printed in gold, cursive letters and the message ended with "Your best pals, Sky Rocket and Storm Cloud." I looked around the room to find Sky Rocket in front of my bed, watching me with hope in his eyes.

"Do you like it?" He asked nervously, "I know your favorite color is red, but we couldn't find a flower shop that would sell red vases at such a late evening… that is last night." He hesitated to say the last four words and scratched the back of his head, his eyes towards the ground.

Perhaps sensing the awkwardness of our conversation, the doctor politely excused himself right after he placed the tray full of unappetizing green peas, salad, apple slices, and a cup of water next to my blue vase. After the door softly closed behind him, Storm Cloud jumped out of his chair to grab the gelatin from my tray and helped himself while I observed closely at Sky's failing attempt to put up a facade.

"What happened after I blacked out?" I asked for Sky to react but Storm Cloud spoke up, his mouth coated with red jelly bits.

"We caught you before you fell into the ground and your manager barked at us to take you here." He paused to swallow his snack and wiped his mouth with his arm and answered plainly, "Man, you should've been awake! Every pony freaked out! They first thought that you were dead, but I checked up on you and knew that you were still alive."

He finished his side of the story with an air of pride until Sky Rocket bursts his bubble. "Actually Storm, you screamed like a sissy girl and I had to tell you to grab hold of Bolt so I could check his pulse." Storm Cloud crossed his arms and looked down to the ground as he rambled on about how he needs to have some credit to maintain his dignity.

"Ponies used to like worship me knowing that I'm friends with Firebolt, and now… let's be real. Ever since Rainbow Dash blurted out the entire world about his secret phobia—"

Without warning, Sky Rocket flew at Storm Cloud and cupped his mouth to muffle him, his wings blowing medical papers into the air and spread them all over the smooth, tile floor. Feeling slightly irritable towards Sky for trying to hide something from me, I sat up and glared at him.

"What the hay, Sky! He's talking to me!"

He glanced at me with guilt and sighed in defeat, releasing Storm Cloud who then elbowed him to speak. Sky finally spoke cautiously, "Please try not to get too angry. There's just… no way to put this lightly… um…" He cleared his throat before slowly admitting, "Ponies of Cloudsdale and Ponyville are beginning to doubt that you will ever… perform your fiery lightning bolt again."

In support for his uneasiness, Storm Cloud boldly clarified, "You have become a laughingstock!"

Then at last, the memories of last night hit me all at once and the very image that makes my blood boil is Rainbow Dash having the last laugh. As if a wild beast had just been awakened, I flung my food tray off the nightstand and carelessly threw off my covers. The metal hit the tiled floor with a loud crash and the food contents spread out in all directions as my hoofs touched the cold, tiled floor. Sky Rocket and Storm Cloud flew up by impulse, not expressing any hint of surprised shock since they've experienced my quick temper from time to time.

"That a boy Bolt," Storm encouraged in approval while clapping his hoofs, "just let it out! Don't hold back!"

Realizing my intent in trying to walk, Sky Rocket offered himself as my balance support, yet sternly warned me, "Firebolt, let's think about this ok? Someone had just wronged you and you have every right to be angry. But there's nothing you can do but rest in bed for a couple of weeks."

Despite of his judgment however, I pressed on, crushing the green peas beneath my hoofs. Now beginning to walk regularly without support, Sky flew right in front of me and insisted, "Bolt, you seriously need to chillax and control yourself."

If looks can be a weapon, Sky would've been pummeled by a chain of atomic bombs as I glowered at him. "Are you serious? After you and Storm Cloud had told me that I became the joke of all Equestria, you expect me to just 'chillax' and rest for a couple of weeks? It doesn't take rocket science to estimate that that's enough time for my fame to be long forgotten! And soon every pony will forever mock me as the Pegasus who never walked on land!"

Lifting my left hoof to make another step, something tugged behind me and I soon noticed that my leg is still attached to the IV pump set. I grabbed a napkin from the floor next to the food tray and used my teeth to pull out the IV catheter. Feeling a slight pinch on my arm, I quickly pressed the tiny puncture wound with the napkin.

Storm Cloud's mouth dropped as he watched my tenacity taking over while Sky reprimanded, "Bolt, don't ever look at me like I'm an idiot! I know what's best for you and you acting like a wild animal is not the solution!"

"Who are you, my mother?" I retorted, "My life is ruined because of that… that four-legged creature with wings, whom ponies called it 'the most awesomeness'! I've kept my secret hidden for so long and she decided to open up her big freakin' mouth!"

Sky swallowed up his own anger towards me and took a deep breath and slowly exhales out the amount of stress that was building within him. Knowing him since colthood, he had always believed that anger corrupts the ability to reason and, as a result, produces a radical destruction towards a pony or thing. "So what?" He reasoned again with me more calmly. "Let her be that way. Understand that you're much better than her if you just don't let her get the best of you."

Yet despite of his logic, there's a time to say enough is enough; this daily battle with Rainbow Dash and I must cease to exist. There's only one pony who has the right to claim supremacy of the cool factor and that would be me. Feeling much more confident, I ripped off the Velcro straps from my arm in which the electrocardiogram sounded out in an unceasing monotonous screech.

As if reading my mind, Storm Cloud countered Sky Rocket's point of view, "Bolt had already tried ignoring Rainbow Dash for a long time now and it hadn't worked at all. I've worked in the weather factory under her supervision long enough to know that she never gives up in what she does. She needs to be taught a lesson up front."

Seeing that I'm not taking his 'no' for an answer and Storm Cloud now siding with me, Sky gave in, "Alright fine… but it's not like we can change the past, so what good will your worrying do?"

Suddenly Storm Cloud's eyes grew wide with excitement and levitated up in the air. "I know! We can find a crazy scientist who invented some type of time machine that is hiding in his underground laboratory and ask him to help us to change Bolt's past." He ended with a huge cheesy grin on his face.

After letting his imagination run wild, I thought about how Rainbow Dash used my secret fear to destroy my fame in a snap and it gave me an epiphany. "Sky, if I was a female pegasus, how do I express my fears and weaknesses without sharing to the public?" Sky pondered on my question for awhile until his eyes lit up and remarked, "I got the answer after reading this baby!" He whip out a comic book from his saddlebag and held it up high for me and Storm to see.

"Meteor Wars? I thought you were supposed to be a genius, Sky," Storm Cloud commented as he stepped on a couple of peas on the floor.

"Nonsense," Sky assured him, "I was reading episode three on the part where the evil Darth Valor and his Imperial army invaded Princess Maya's spaceship to retrieve their pen drive, a stolen database of the Hell Star blueprint. So Princess Maya secretly hid it in a place where nobody, not even Darth Valor, will ever suspect: Inside the blue and white droid."

Smoothing my mane on my forehead impatiently, I waited silently for him to explain further while hearing Storm Cloud amusing himself in squishing all the green peas on the floor. Sky continued, "Rainbow Dash doesn't have a pen drive, but she does have some secret information stored in... perhaps a book maybe." Putting two and two together as I stared down at the floor that's now covered in green smear and finally spoke out my own thought, "A diary."

Looking back up to see Sky smiling at my brilliant answer, yet grew really quiet, Storm Cloud's voice broke out, "So Rainbow Dash's diary is inside a blue and white droid. Okay, now this makes perfect sense." Enlightened of my own answer however, I opened the clean window to push my body through it and landed on the warm, soft cloud. Glancing back at Storm Cloud, I piped, "Not a droid, but her blue and white house."

After storing Rainbow Dash's home address and contact information in my office at the weather factory, it didn't take too long to reach our destination. The grand, two story castle-like cloud with a tower above the second floor settled on the white, wispy foundation. The rising sun's rays illuminated the clear sky as well as the tall cloud with yellow and gold hue, casting a dark blue shadow underneath it. Having no scattered clouds to hide in, we flew right underneath the cloud home behind the rainbow waterfalls that pour out from the second floor, onto the fountains, and cascade off the cloud's edge to fade into oblivion.

Sky Rocket rummaged through his saddlebag and almost dropped the blue vase before catching and placing it back inside. Storm Cloud loudly asked, "Why did we bring it with us?" I cupped his mouth quickly and scolded him through gritted teeth, "We didn't have enough time to drop it off at my house or else we'll miss seeing Rainbow Dash go out for her morning exercise. And that requires not letting her suspect we're here."

Sky Rocket found and pulled out his binoculars and repeated the plan to Storm Cloud, "When Rainbow Dash leaves her home, you and Firebolt will sneak into her house to locate her diary." Storm Cloud nodded his head but looked absolutely confused and asked, "Um, why do we need her diary again?"

The very idea of Rainbow Dash humiliating me in front of public lodged a hint of bitterness in my tone as I answered, "So we can find the weaknesses that lie behind the mask of a foe and destroy her once and for all." In response, he snickered and rubbed his hoofs together sinisterly until Sky reminded him, "This plan only pertains to knowing about her weaknesses and fears, not any other private stuff, got it?" Storm saluted him and returned to his dramatic act.

Within the dark shadow of the castle cloud, I flew up and peeked through the glass window for her whereabouts.

_She should be downstairs by now. _

Finishing my thought, I saw a blue pegasus that just flew down from the swirling staircase and entered into the spacious living room near the window I'm peeking through. She wrapped a silver wristwatch on her arm and grabbed a leather collar with a clip-on radio from the coffee table. Suddenly I was startled by a poke behind my back and turned to see Storm Cloud struggling to look through the window over me. Afraid of him blowing our cover, I shoved him down below the window.

He clicked his tongue at my supposedly rude gesture and whined, "Hey I want to see."

"This is not fun and games, Storm." I cut him off. "If she finds out that I'm out to get her back, I might as well move to a new town and start my life all over again." He furrowed his brow in deep thinking for a while until he nods in submission.

I hovered up to the window very cautiously and saw her randomly posing in front of a body mirror, her back facing towards me. Immediately, I sat back down next to Storm Cloud to prevent myself from guffawing out loud. Storm Cloud looked baffled at me and decided to have a peek for himself, which didn't last long before he also followed the same action and muffled himself from snorting. Sky Rocket flew out from underneath the cloud with his binoculars adjusted and shook his head at us for laughing like silent hyenas.

"Come on guys, let's be serious here. I'm already nervous as it is."

After regaining my composure, I placed my hoof on his shoulder after remembering that Rainbow Dash had recently became one of his inspirations to build more original rocket models as well as the citadel of the Rainbow Dash Fan club.

Storm Cloud then asked him, "So why did you come with us? You know that our devotion for Rainbow Dash would become a sacrifice for our best friend's peace of mind." He glanced at me. "No offense, Bolt." I answered with a grunt and rolled my eyes at the thought of my two best friends having reverence for her ever since she surprised Cloudsdale with her sonic rainboom.

Nonetheless, still feeling desperate into getting the job done, I consoled Sky, "Let's think about this for a minute. Once we have her diary, all your questions about her private life will be answered and you'll become like… uh… the Rainbow Dash guru in your fan club." Sky Rocket's countenance softened and perked his ears up with hope.

"You really think so?"

"I know so," I reassured him with a wink.

Sky strapped the binoculars around his neck firmly and said with much more strength, "Count me in. But for the record, I'm only helping you because you're the best pony to try out my original flying routines, and Rainbow Dash definitely needs to learn not to mess with you." I smiled at my best friend when Storm Cloud anxiously tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at Rainbow Dash who's now walking down the front lawn that curves towards the side of the house. I watched her plug in her white ear buds that coiled down around her neck and connect it into her clip-on radio and she flew away at her routine pace.

"Let's do this," Storm Cloud whispered.

We flew to her front door and Sky Rocket easily picked out the lock with a lock pick. After urging both of us through the opened blue door, he reminded, "I'll be waiting outside behind her house to see if she comes back. I'll warn you guys with a bird call. Good luck!"

After entering into the brightly lit foyer, ahead of us is the living room with furniture decorated with light blue cloud swirls and a white fireplace sitting on the right side of the room; on the far left side is the body mirror that reflected the other half of the room, giving the illusion of a spacious house. Storm Cloud ran to the kitchen on our left to search through the refrigerator.

"Uh Storm, her diary would not be hiding in there."

He replied excitedly, "Well duh I knew that, I'm just curious of what she has in here. Hey look Bolt! Your favorite popsicle flavor: sour apple!"

The mention of the flavor almost made my taste buds run wild, but I pushed away the temptation to grab one before insisting, "This is not the time to explore. We're on a mission."

After Storm responded with a sigh and a slam of the refrigerator door, I zoomed up the swirling staircase that intersects between the kitchen and the living room to search the entire second floor. Yet I barely reached the second floor after hearing pots and pans banging loudly from the kitchen.

"Storm Cloud, you're supposed to look for her diary, not make her house into a crime scene!" I shouted from the staircase.

A low reply sounded out with a hint of guilt, "Sorry!"

Focusing back on my task, I galloped into a hallway that has a door at the end of it.

_This could be her bedroom._

I pushed the door open to see silver pillars in all four corners of the room, blue walls covered in rainbow portraits of Rainbow Dash herself, and a dartboard, covered in multicolored sticky notes of to-do lists, hanging on her closet door on my left. Being that the room itself looks similar to the size of the living room downstairs, it's most fitting to have a circular, king size bed covered by a tossed over blue quilt with her large size cutie mark stenciled on it.

_Man, what will a pony give in exchange for that comfortable bed? _

On the right side of the room is a glass sliding door, decorated with overhanging silver drapes, that opens to a wide balcony which overlooked the breathtaking scenery of Cloudsdale. Then reminding myself to not lose focus, I checked underneath her bed, pillows, and her quilt. Then searched her night stand stored with marbles and playing cards, rummaged through her dresser that's stashed with t-shirts from schools she had attended, one from a flying academy, and everything else that's sports related, fumbled into her cluttered closet in which I accidently knocked over a basket full of balls, and went inside her purely white bathroom to only find some of her hygienic products on the sink. I returned to the bedroom and finally noticed that her room appeared similar to my bedroom; like an aftermath of a tornado.

_Curse my messy habits_.

Putting more effort into getting the room back to its original state, time is running out and the reality of not yet finding her diary left me to fight against the insanity that's beginning to emerge out of me. Giving up in searching the second floor, I galloped downstairs in hope that Storm Cloud had found anything, but only to see him flexing his muscles in front of the body mirror.

"Storm Cloud!" He jumped at the intensity of my voice. "We don't have time for this. Did you find her diary?"

He shook his head in fear, "No, nothing at all! I've searched everywhere!"

I turned back around to search in the bedroom once again until something made every one of my hair stand up and muscles tense; Sky's bird call. It's time to execute the plan of our evacuation route. Storm Cloud and I ran to the window that we've peeked through earlier since it's the only exit to the back of the house. We pushed the window upward with all of our might until perspiration formed on our heads and teeth gritted.

"Bolt this thing won't open; it's stuck!"

Briefly observing our predicament, the window wouldn't even budge a millimeter and Storm collapsed on the ground, panting… and looking terrified. Trying to keep a straight face so that my own fear won't freak him out even more, I skimmed through the first floor while forming plan B mentally.

The double windows at the kitchen and the adjacent dining room were out of the question. It would be stupid of us to exit out to the front lawn where Rainbow Dash will be most likely there. My heart racing and forcing myself to calm down in controlled breaths, I examined the inside of the fireplace in the living room to discover that the chimney is too narrow for a pony to fit through. Coming out of it in defeat, I caught Sky Rocket waving his hoofs frantically on the other side of the window while Storm Cloud still sat there petrified at the sight of the front door knob now jiggling to turn clockwise.

Having another idea in mind, I lifted Storm Cloud from his spot and forced him to run upstairs as fast as possible when the front door opened and Rainbow Dash entered in with her back towards me to close the door. Still wearing her ear buds, she didn't hear me flew up the staircase after Storm Cloud, into the hallway, and close the bedroom door softly. Storm Cloud found the sliding doors in her bedroom and tried to push it open before noticing that it's locked. "Unlock it!" I hissed loudly at him and left the bedroom door slightly ajar to see if she's coming upstairs.

Just then, I heard her singing out loud to what sounded like rock music blaring out of her ear buds, "There she was, time stopped when she walked by. She's an angel of fashion with her wings flown high." Imagining her playing an air guitar and bobbing her head through the chorus of the song, Storm Cloud just figured out how to unlock the door and swiftly slide it open, a sudden ear-piercing screech was produced by the friction of the door. We both cringed for a moment and strained to listen for Rainbow Dash if she's still playing karaoke downstairs.

Everything was deathly silent until I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. With very little time available, I shoved Storm Cloud out onto the balcony and shut the door behind him. In shock, he shook his head at me and begged for me to come out while on his knees. Now the hoofs are pounding louder than ever in the hallway and I instinctively lifted up the weightless, cloud-made mattress and stuffed myself in there right before the bedroom door busted open.

The soft mattress sandwiched me from top to bottom as I peeked through the slim gap at the end of the bed to see Rainbow Dash's legs at the doorway. She stood there for a moment and I could almost sense her holding her breath silently. Hoping that she hadn't noticed the slight visible changes on her bed, I covered my mouth to make my heavy breathing inaudible and almost lost my cool when she begins to walk towards me. Closing my eyes and waiting for the worst to happen, a couple of items gently pounded on the cloudy mattress above my back and she suddenly cried out, "Oh yeah! The Dash likes!" Then she ran to her dresser to pick something up and threw it at the dartboard with a sharp thud and said triumphantly, "Rainbow Dash, ponies would have to step up their game to beat your speed record of…" She paused dramatically and drummed the floor with her hoofs before boasting, "81 miles per hour on the racetrack!"

Sickened by her boasting, I occupied myself in thinking of another way out of this predicament when her legs were walking towards me again and she leaned her whole body forward to then push her hoof in between the mattress. Catching me off guard, I grew worried that her hoof might touch my muzzle and so scooted myself backwards until a hard covered book poked my underbelly. After pulling it out from under me, I couldn't make out the front cover lettering in the dark when Rainbow Dash's pushed her whole arm fully in and was feeling for something around my personal space. Taking chances, I pushed the book towards her prying hoof and a rush of relief swept over me as she pulled it out.

My body relaxed and I made an attempt to deeply inhale until a body had thrown itself onto my back, leaving me breathless and my pelvis being crushed under its heavy weight. The pain around my waistline caught my breath and I stuffed my hoof into my mouth before I could groan.

Just then Rainbow Dash's cracking voice became audible from on top of the bed, "Dear diary, I'm so hyped for today's events at Ponyville main square. Every pony, including the Wonderbolts, is going to see me become honored by the mayor herself!" She stopped to squeal in delight and continued, "Pinky Pie is hosting the party and this would be the second best day of my life! Well… not excluding the fact that my best day ever was winning first place at the flying competition and hanging out with my idols for the whole entire day."

She gave a short pause and sighed; her body relaxing on top of me had not only allowed me to vividly imagine every part of her anatomy but also gave a very disturbing question.

_What would it feel like to wrap my arms around her when she sighs, her soft mane caressing my chin and neck?_

Her words interrupted my thought process, granting me the privilege to scold myself to even entertain those ideas. "Hopefully from now on, every pony will still cherish me for my special talent. Firebolt, whom every pony in Cloudsdale had called him 'the most amazing stallion', can easily steal my thunder without placing any effort. Why do boys get all the attention? And for crying out loud, he didn't even want to be noticed back then. He was such a softie as a colt and I just wanted to give him a little ego boost. Hmph, now he's just a loud mouth with serious ego problems! If no pony else is going to step up to show him that, then I will. Sharing his childhood fear to Equestria will teach him a lesson. After all, he wanted 'the spotlight.' Can't wait to see the look on his face when he gets out of the hospital."

Then out of nowhere, a loud knock from downstairs had disrupted her flow of words and she jumped off the bed and flew downstairs. Decided to take this opportunity to escape, I wiggled myself out of the mattresses and stood up to find a dart stuck in a sticky note on the dartboard. One of the to-do lists she shot at was beating her own speed record.

_Whatever._

I glanced at her bed to see a wristwatch, clip-on radio, recording timer, quill, and her white, hard covered diary that's displayed open on her bed. As I grabbed the diary, an enthusiastic voice had elevated from downstairs. My curiosity drove me to listen behind the bedroom door and hear Rainbow Dash say, "I better see you there at the party, Storm Cloud! And don't worry, I'll save some cake for you to give Firebolt if, you know, he's not mad at me or anything."

Then Storm Cloud replied with confidence, "Well you can say that he's overcoming his suffering. And before you know it, he'll be back to himself again." I could hear the smile in his voice and, on that note, decided to exit from the balcony.

After what felt like forever being squished under the bed as well as drenched in sweat, the fresh air cooled my system and the wind blew my mane, my four limbs moving freely once again. I swooped down underneath the cloud to find Sky Rocket surprised to see me and made a bird call once more before exclaiming, "Oh thank Celestia! Please tell me that what you've recklessly had done in her bedroom was worth it?"

Relishing the adventure that we've had this morning, I placed the diary into his saddlebag when Storm Cloud eventually flew down from the front lawn. Sky Rocket was relieved, his tired face showing that he was vexed throughout the entire mission.

Storm Cloud punched me on the shoulder and scolded, "Don't you ever do that again? Sky had to knock me upside the head to get my head straight!"

The three of us became silent, trying to wrap our minds of what had just happened at the house until Storm Cloud interrupted jokingly, "So did you get to see her undress?" Growing slightly elated, I bragged, "Oh yeah… Nah, I'm joshing you! But I snatched her diary from her bed right after she wrote her last entry… and man you're not going to believe what she had just confessed."

Sky Rocket stored away his binoculars and stated very seriously, "Mission accomplished. Let's get out of here. We have a document to dissect."

As we flew back to the outskirts of Cloudsdale, I casually asked Storm Cloud, "So what did you say to Rainbow Dash when you left her front lawn?" He chuckled as he remembered his last few simple words. "Well if I had known that you took the diary from her bed, I wouldn't have said, 'Have a good day'!"


	3. Chapter 3

**enjoy**

Firebolt

Chapter 3

Storm Cloud chattered excitedly about his improvised conversation with Rainbow Dash all throughout our flight travel from her cloud castle. Sharing in his excitement, I could hardly wait to dive into the pages of my rival's darkest secrets. Sky Rocket clung onto the saddlebag even more tightly ever since we've finally stolen Rainbow Dash's private diary, which had become a sacred treasure to all of us. We approached my small cloud home that's hoof-made into a pillared temple with golden stands aligning the front path towards the dark, orange door. Numerous of golden bowls, each lighted with huge balls of fire, sat on top of the white pillars that surrounded the cloud home.

_Home, sweet home._

Based on my routine, I stopped to check my mailbox when Storm Cloud began prying for the diary in the saddlebag before Sky Rocket covered it with his wing and said in a hushed tone, "Not out here, Storm. Some pony can by spying on us."

"Oh come on, there are only three of us next to a remote temple."

Their debate continued as I pulled out a sports magazine in special edition, some bills, and annoying ads, until a bright, blue envelope stamped with a rainbow lightning bolt caught my eye. "Guys get inside," I said hastily at the two stallions that pulled away from their head butting and unlocked the front door.

Upon entering the small white living room, an untidy stack of last season's sports magazines, some borrowed comic books from Sky Rocket, and old newspapers were tossed in one corner of the room. On the far left side is a white, brick fireplace that faces the bright, yellow couch in the middle of the room. Straight ahead from the front door is a large staircase in which the doorway to my bedroom points to the left side of the house. There's a long island countertop, which makes up a dining table, with high chairs that separated the living room and the cluttered kitchen on the far right side. A small pile of dirty dishes still sat in the sink while used pizza boxes are all pushed next to the side of the refrigerator.

Oblivious towards the unsanitary mess, Storm Cloud opened the refrigerator door to pull out three energy power drinks and set them on the countertops.

"Let's get down and dirty," Storm piped as Sky, repulsed of my messy abode, pulled out the blue vase to make the place more presentable and then the diary.

Before opening to the first page, he looked at me and Storm Cloud with drinks in our hoofs and stated seriously, "Whatever information we will find in this private book, promise that we're going to do this as mature stallions. Remember, this book is the heart of an innocent, young mare who reap the glory of being known as the most awesome, coolest, unbeatable, indescribable, breathtaking—"

"OKAY! We get the point!" My own outburst interjected, the volume ringing in my ears, and formed a dead silence around the table. As a result, I snatched the diary before Sky Rocket could retaliate and turned to the first page of Rainbow Dash's very first entry dated back when she was a filly at St. Cloud Elementary School.

"Find anything juicy?" Storm Cloud asked.

I read the first paragraph and noticed that she was talking about the first day we've met in St. Cloud, my hoofs began to tremble.

"Yeah, she actually wrote about the time we first met… man, that was a long time ago." I said, placing the book down and rubbing my temples.

On the other hand, Sky Rocket had shot up into the air ecstatically, barely maintaining self-control to even speak out clearly, "No way! You're kidding me right? You've known Rainbow Dash for how long?"

Attempting to cover up his own excitement, Storm Cloud said coolly with obvious curiosity, "Please read the entry before Sky explodes."

I placed my hoof over my chin for a minute and decided to allow Rainbow Dash's entry to describe that day. Reading her entry out loud, I stopped occasionally to better understand her amateurish hoofwriting:

_Dear Diary,_

_It was the first day of school at St. Cloud Elementary. Mom and dad told me to behave so I don't go to detention again. I raced to my seat in first place at the back of the classroom; this is where most of the cool ponies hang out. I was talking to my friends until we saw a new colt at the door. Mrs. Cumulus was talking to him and he looked too scared. Probably another colt who's afraid of his own shadow. But I love his mane and tail! They were bright red, orange, and yellow all over, like fire. His body is the color orange and he has huge red eyes. Talk about awesomeness! He can fit right in with my peeps. Then Mrs. Cumulus told the class that his name was Firebolt, but he was hiding behind her legs. My friends and I couldn't breathe cuz we were too busy rolling all over the floor laughing. He is such a shorty rock! I've never seen a colt so tiny in my life!_

Storm Cloud interrupted by commenting, "When I've first met you Bolt, you were just right about my height."

It was after receiving my fiery lightning bolt cutie mark that Storm Cloud befriended me when we were at middle school, the time when I finally begin to grow taller. It was also the time when I was teasing Sky Rocket about his huge wire-rimmed glasses and crazy rocket models when Storm Cloud, being the glue of our friendship, taught me to respect him as a pony. But I didn't want to go into details about me being victimized of bullying throughout my early age. Who knows? My friends might not ever treat me as their friend again but a sore loser, a pushover, or even a softie. Thankfully, Sky Rocket just simply nodded in agreement with Storm's observation and instantly urged me to continue reading:

_At recess, I found Firebolt sitting by himself on the side of the playground until a couple of my friends began teasing him for being so small. Ok, now it wasn't that funny anymore; it's okay to laugh with ponies, but not at them. All this time, he kept his mouth shut and crawled into a little ball with his tail wrapped around him. So I told my friends to stop laughing at him and they just said 'whatever.' We were alone and I told him that he needs to stand up for himself and to be proud of who he is. But still, I didn't really like him; he was too shy and boring."_

Rainbow Dash's entry continued describing the rest of her day and so I close the entry when Sky Rocket spoke in awe, "Wow… Rainbow Dash's very own words, written down on paper… as a filly. Omigosh! The RD Club will never believe this! Oh Firebolt, you gotta let me read the next entry!"

He reached for the book when I've jerked it away from his grasp. "No! We are not here to learn more about how awesome she is and how pathetic I was! Remember, she is messing with the wrong stallion and needs to be taught a lesson!"

Storm Cloud jumped onto the countertop and remarked, "That's right; especially when she just wrote a lie about Firebolt having bullies and being shy and boring!"

I cringed at Storm Cloud's choice of words; my friends had not yet learned the whole half of me. Not that I've lied to them directly since we first became like the three buccaneers, but that my new social habits began to display itself more outwardly ever since my trauma in colthood. They've never met the real colt before he got his cutie mark.

Storm Cloud continued his heroic speech. "We have to find concrete evidence that presents her weaknesses in a new light so the mighty bridge comes falling down!"

A slight pause lingered in the atmosphere before Sky Rocket replied, "Interesting figure of speech and well put, my comrade."

Storm Cloud placed his hoof over his head in pain and groaned, "Thanks, my brain feels the same way."

Then Sky Rocket turned to reach out his hoof once again for me to give up the diary and said, "Hoof over the diary, we gotta reputation to save."

After giving him my rival's source of privacy, he pushed up his glasses, pulled out bookmarks, paper, and quill from his saddlebag, and began skimming through the pages in an intense search. His brows furrowed slightly in every other page as he begin jotting down key information and taking notes of the chronological entries. The energy power drink didn't suffice my heightening nerves and I decided to exercise my leg muscles around the room. I reached to a window next to the staircase and gazed out the brightly sunny Cloudsdale marketplace from a distance when Storm Cloud sighed impatiently from his seat and zoomed up to my bedroom.

_I can't blame the guy. Waiting sucks!_

The sound of Sky Rocket's scribbling on the paper filled the entire first floor as I gaze at the ponies mingling outside when a gentle tap on my shoulder made me turned to look at Storm Cloud, holding two pieces of my red, hot flavored gum. I took one piece and popped it in my mouth as he leaned his arm next to the window and looked outside with me.

"How's it going?" He asked casually, chewing his gum.

"Not much, just waiting. You?" I replied, popping my gum.

"Eh, ditto." He shrugged his shoulders as he watched the ponies mingling and then paused for a moment before asking, "Is that Rainbow Dash?"

"Where?" I perked up, scanning closely at the marketplace until a rainbow colored pegasus caught my eye, who happens to be talking to a police officer and waving her arms all over the place.

Storm Cloud spoke out my own train of thought, "She found out… finally." He ended with sarcasm and a hint of tension. My heart began pounding as the police officer spoke into his radio and two more police officers appeared at the scene and interrogated Rainbow Dash.

"Something's not right here," I said and began to pace back and forth in the living room. "Is stealing a diary considered a crime?"

"I don't think so," Storm Cloud answered nervously and paused briefly, "… but breaking and entering Rainbow Dash's house is. Oh man, she's gonna have every pegasi of Cloudsdale hot on our tails!" He began to chew on the tips of his hoofs.

"Don't worry… we're just gonna keep our cool and pretend that we're not guilty. Well uh… I'm not guilty. They won't find out that it was me… right?" I questioned with a forced grin and a bead of sweat dripped down my head.

Just then, Sky Rocket finished scribbling his notes and turned around on his seat to look at us. "Ok, I've managed to list down the subject's weaknesses in a checklist and applied footnotes of the diary's pages as my direct references and text support." He pulled out his sheet of paper with the information listed in three bulletins and continued rationally, "These three conclusions are listed here due to the consistent repetition of the subject's choice of words and contextual implications which present the major theme of self-respect."

"Sky, can you please dummify that for the sake of us, illiterate ponies?" Storm Cloud asked as he jumped onto the yellow couch and placed the cloud pillows over his head.

"Never mind that, let's hear the conclusions," I intervened as Sky Rocket shook his head at the overwhelmed pegasus on the couch and read out his findings:

_Bulletin number one: Rainbow Dash is afraid of humiliating herself in front of the Wonderbolts, her heroes since foalhood. Number two: She's afraid of losing her five best friends, aka The Elements of Harmony._

He looked up at us for a moment and stated the names of her friends. "Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinky Pie." He returned to his bulletin and cleared his throat to continue:

_Number three: She's afraid of becoming a public mockery. _

He looked at me cautiously as I rolled my eyes and sucked in between my teeth. "Well too bad, she should've thought of that before making me look like a joke. You reap what you sow, baby!"

As I walked around the countertop in deep meditation, a blue envelope, stamped with a rainbow lightning bolt, still sat on top of the piles of mail. I opened the envelope and pulled out an invitation to the celebration party at Ponyville main square that starts this afternoon.

Storm Cloud saw the invitation and gasped, "I got the most brilliant idea! Rainbow Dash told me that the Wonderbolts are going to be there as her party guests… we can cross out the first bulletin!"

Sky checked his list and his eyes grew wide in realization. Storm Cloud flew up into the air and danced in excitement. "Gentle court, let's crash some pony's party!

Sky stuffed his list and the diary in his saddle bag when I asked him, "Why are we bringing the diary with us?"

"Just in case, we've missed some crucial details that can help us get out of a tough spot down at Ponyville. It wouldn't make sense to keep flying up and down from the ground to the sky to simply reread it." On that note, he and Storm Cloud flew out the front door of my house, leaving me to cope with my deep fear, rising inwardly once more.

_G-gr-ground?_

**my sister wants to know what you think about her characters, and her plot. please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

Firebolt

Chapter 4

The merciless sun burned down the back of my neck as I spied Rainbow Dash talking to the police officers at the Cloudsdale marketplace. Unfortunately there were no clouds to hide in and sneak past the commoners and the enemy in sight. So Sky Rocket advised that I should wear a disguise to avoid causing a commotion with my once existed fans. I hid behind the grocery store away from the public's eye and watched Storm Cloud and Sky Rocket walk calmly down the street and into the clothing department.

Suddenly Rainbow Dash came into view as she walked away from the group of police officers; her mind seems to be completely occupied to whatever issue she had discussed earlier. Her face contorted in deep concentration, she walked slowly in the direction towards me. Sensing her presence coming closer to the grocery store, I squeezed myself against the building wall behind a barrel of colorful fruit produce, made fresh from the earth ponies. Her long, flowing rainbow mane appeared in sight above the barrel and I can almost hear her hoof digging into the pillow of the clouds.

Then I heard Sky Rocket calling out, "Hey Rainbow Dash, heading to the party now?"

I peeked around the side of the barrel to see Rainbow Dash looking at the two stallions and gave a weak smile. "Oh uh hey guys, yeah I was just on my way there. Are you two coming?"

Storm Cloud piped up, "You know it!"

Sky Rocket looked ecstatic to see his idol face-to-face, but forcibly held it in to respond casually, "Yeah, we just had to run some errands before we get there."

Rainbow Dash was too busy eyeing my friends' purchases in the shopping bag to see me tiptoeing to another building across the street with a dressing stall outside. Sky Rocket grew slightly nervous when he glanced at me briefly and quickly faced Rainbow Dash as she said, "A brown wig, a purple cape, and sunglasses. Who's wearing this costume?"

She looked back up at Sky Rocket and he mustered an answer as calm as possible, "Storm Cloud."

Storm glanced at Sky skeptically. "I'm not wear—"

Sky jabbed his elbow sharply into Storm's shoulder before he could complete his remark. "Yes buddy, you were going to wear this for her party, remember?" He stretched the last word exaggeratedly for Storm to get the hidden hint.

Upon understanding Sky's hidden warning, Storm Cloud said, "Oh yeah… I am! Pretty cool, huh?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked at Rainbow Dash who looked at them for awhile and then chuckled.

"You bet, Storm! You have a way of livening up parties with your… fancy get-up. And that's one of the reasons why you are a member of my cloud team." She gave him a noogie on his head while Sky managed to plaster a sheepish grin on his face.

"Well, smell ya later boys!" She replied with a wink and was about to fly out when Storm Cloud cried, "Wait! I wanna know why you were talking to a couple of police officers just earlier."

_Oh Storm, why are you bringing that up?_

Rainbow Dash hovered in midair, slightly flabbergasted at Storm's remark. "Well um, see… funny thing just happened this morning… right after you left my front door. I went upstairs to find something very important to me missing, and man I was like 'what the hay!' I searched everywhere in the house and got nothing. So I got a couple of my friends to help me and Twilight somehow freakishly noticed something odd about my house and simply stated that some pony broke into my house illegally. So she gathered a couple of evidences to send to the police station and all I had to do is report a break-in, so they can find the culprit." Her eyes narrowed as well as her tone grew bitter when she said the last word.

Sky Rocket and Storm Cloud stood speechless at Rainbow's morning surprise when she suddenly perked up. "Yeah I can't believe it either. But don't worry, that stupid bastard will think twice before messing with the most awesome of awesomeness! Well, gotta Dash!"

She flew out of the marketplace and head towards Ponyville when I waved at my friends into one of the dressing stalls. Sky Rocket placed the purchases inside the stall and I closed the curtains behind me. From outside, Sky dreamily said in awe, "Did you see the way she winked at us and just flew away without a care in the world? I'm telling you… breathtaking!"

Storm Cloud teased him a bit. "If you like her so much, then ask her out."

Sky Rocket shook his head defiantly. "Just because I admire her 'awesomeness' does not mean I'm in love with her. Firebolt and I know very well that Princess Celestia is the mare of my dreams and will always be."

I chuckled at Sky Rocket for dreaming to become one of Princess Celestia's brilliant scientists and having her fall in love with him one day.

Storm Cloud responded sarcastically, "Right…"

"And besides," Sky Rocket continued as he gave me a serious look, "She's too busy searching for the diary thief to get a mate."

"Pfft, she can suck it!" I retorted, stuffing my long mane into the brown wig and put on the purple cape to cover my whole body. After adding the final touch by wearing my sunglasses, I made a grand entrance out of the stall and pranced around in my costume. "How do I look?"

Sky muffled himself from laughing while Storm commented with a shrug, "eh, the costume looked better on me."

Sky Rocket's idea of disguise worked well during the treacherous walk to the farthest outskirts of Cloudsdale. Few of the pegasus ponies had given positive feedback on my costume while the police officers hardly recognized me and kept their faces straight when I trotted pass them. I had thought of flying over Cloudsdale to cut the journey short, but that would make my underbelly and tail color visible for every pony to notice my identity. This could raise some questions of why I'm not being hospitalized after my tragedy, if not suspicions.

Beyond the edge of the cloud is the bright sun shining over the beautiful array of grey blue mountain peaks, which towers over the Evergreen forests, lush green valleys, and the lively colored villages of Ponyville, right below my hoofs. My hoofs stood so comfortably on the soft pillows of Cloudsdale that the thought of stepping onto the mysterious landscape, called Earth, struck a chord in me.

"I can't do this."

Sky Rocket hovered in front of me and tried to coax me. "Firebolt, we both know that this would be coming if we are to attend the party. This is the time to step out of your comfort zone."

With that said, Storm Cloud daringly kicked my rump off the cloud and I instantly beat my wings hard enough to not free fall… again. After catching my breath, I glared at Storm Cloud when he and Sky Rocket suddenly latched their arms into both of mine and dived headfirst with me.

"No! Guys, stop! Quit it! I can't do this!"

As the green land draws nearer, so did my sense of panic.

"Stop it guys! NO!"

I shut my eyes tight and beat my wings hard to slow down their speed, but nonetheless they were strong enough to keep pulling me down. I thrashed my whole body wildly, flapping my wings like a hummingbird until my wings hit the back of my friends' heads and they released themselves to watch my insanity taking over me. I opened one of my eyes to see that we were only yards from touching the ground. By fearful impulse, I began to levitate up when my friends grabbed me by the hind legs and pulled me in one place.

"This is absurd, Firebolt! Why are you too chicken to touch the ground?" Storm Cloud asked, gritting his teeth as he pulled with all his strength to keep me near the ground.

Sky Rocket could barely speak through the physical struggle and already getting out of breath, lacking athletic endurance. Their grip on my hind legs loosened as I continued to push myself upward until a soft voice broke out, "Firebolt, is that you?"

The war between me and my friends ended as we both looked down at the yellow, pink mane pegasus standing right below us, gazing at us with wide, teal colored eyes and her gaping mouth.

We remained silent for awhile when Sky Rocket asked politely, "Fluttershy, uh good afternoon, how are you?"

"I'm fine… thanks Sky," she replied with a shy smile and turned her sight towards me with concern. "Um… what seems to be the problem here?"

Suddenly feeling conscientious of my appearance, I noticed that my wig and sunglasses fell off my head and landed next to Fluttershy's hoof.

Then Storm Cloud pointed at me and confessed out loud, "Firebolt is too scared to touch the ground."

"Shut up! No I'm not!" I defended, scowling at Storm Cloud for opening up my shame to some pony I barely knew and who's also a best friend of Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy seemed taken aback at the sharp, intense volume of my tone but Sky Rocket courteously explained to her, "We're going to Rainbow Dash's celebration party as her party guests but Firebolt had not became familiar with the landscape and is… too timid to walk on the ground." He added slowly for Fluttershy to comprehend the situation in which she smiled compassionately.

In return, she flew up to my level and her persuasion was filled with gentility and hospitality. "It's okay Firebolt, there's no need to be afraid. When I first touched the ground, I found wonderful surprises that made me feel right at home. Most importantly, there's no more free-falling here." She pulled her hoofs behind her back and averted her eyes from me for a moment in a shy pose.

Normally, I would lose patience with timorous ponies who are not straightforward on their point, but her demeanor was mesmerizing and comforting. The panic within me dwindled and my breathing slowed to a steady pace, left me feeling at peace.

Then she gently placed her hoof on mine and encouraged, "We're going to come down slowly and you can hold my hoof as long as you feel ready to let go. Just don't look down."

I feel myself slowly descending with her, focusing on her hoof holding mine in order to not look down, until a rough, dry surface touched the tips of my hind hoof. Impulsively, I retracted my hind leg as Fluttershy nodded in response of my own tentativeness. Then soon both of my hind legs touched the ground and the dust circled around me as my wings flutter at a slower rate and before I knew it, I'm standing in all fours.

_I… did it… _

I never felt so much exhilaration; this sense of freedom from the chains of my childhood terror.

Making my first few steps on the dirt path, then onto the warm, tickling grass, and the dry, rocky soil, an aroma of flowers and vegetation and the sight of lively creatures creeping out of their burrows had enlightened all of my senses. Feeling more confident than ever, I galloped past a humble cottage to a small pond and dipped my hoof into the cool, clear water, a moist residue left on my hoof when I pulled it away. A distorted figure of myself looked back at me from the soft waves and became clearer as the water surface stagnates. Fluttershy's figure appeared on my left and I turned to her, slightly overwhelmed of my discoveries.

"Thank you… really… I didn't think that you would, well you know. Rainbow Dash probably had already told you tons of crap about me and you doing this… was very kind of you."

Fluttershy blushed at my words for awhile, but frowned a little and averted her eyes again as she mumbled, "Oh um, well… I feel kind of bad about you and Rainbow… um, not getting along too well. I just really really hope that you both will see that fighting is… not the best answer."

I raised an eyebrow at her; fighting seems like the only solution to handle a feisty, aggressive pegasus like Rainbow Dash.

My friends had already closed in around us, seemingly very curious of her bold statement.

"What do you propose they should do, Fluttershy?" Sky asked encouragingly while Storm struggled to listen to her meek, quiet voice.

Then Fluttershy, becoming more confident, replied, "Firebolt and Rainbow Dash must learn to…"

Then something right behind me had caught her eye and she immediately step back away from me, her ears tucked down and eyes fleeting.

"Oh girls! Um… uh, Twilight Sparkle I can explain…"

Sky Rocket and Storm Cloud looked surprised at the sight of three mares walking into the scene. The purple unicorn walked up towards me, penetrating me with her harsh eyes, with a gorgeous, white unicorn and orange earth pony, wearing a cowgirl hat, on both of her sides. Unlike Fluttershy however, there was no sign of kindness or compromises in their approach.

"What are you doing here?" Twilight asked rigidly


	5. Chapter 5

Firebolt

Chapter 5

Twilight's glare sent down a cold shiver down my spine and my instincts quickly shifted into self defense at her question. "Hmph, what's it to you?" I retorted, returning the glare at the interrogating purple unicorn. I maintained my poker face in hopes that she wasn't asking if whether or not that I had broke into Rainbow Dash's house and stole her private diary.

She replied in obvious suspicion, "Well you can first start explaining of why you were talking to Fluttershy." She raised an eyebrow at me, in anticipation of my response… or in her case, to spill the beans.

Then the orange Earth pony with blonde mane and tail, each tied into ponytails, gently spoke to Fluttershy in a strong country accent, "Sugarcube, we were expectin' to meet ya here and head on over to Rainbow's party till we catch you hangin' with this foe." She finished her comment with a grimacing look at my direction.

Fluttershy opened her mouth to explain, but Twilight held her hoof up and said in a softer tone, "Sorry Fluttershy, but we need to hear what our suspect has to say."

_Suspect? Oh crap…_

Finding the perfect time to avoid from explaining any further, I began stalling by meticulously untying my purple cape and gave it to Sky for storage, long enough for Twilight's face to turn red in frustration.

Then after looking up at the four mares with a little smirk, I finally answered, "The 'suspect' has nothing to say to you." I looked back at my friends who were also glaring at the mares and encouraged, "Come on guys, we're wasting time with these morons."

As we turned to walk on the dirt path, the orange Earth pony, wearing a cowgirl hat, jumped in our way, the dust swirling beneath her hoofs. "Whoa hold up boys! My best friend just asked a simple question and there's no reason to be all rude and hard headed."

"Speak for yourself, cowgirl! I saw you giving us dirty looks." Storm snapped at the hypocrite, hovering above her.

Then the gorgeous white unicorn strutted up towards the offended Earth pony and said in a posh manner, "Oh Applejack, don't you see that these three ruffians are obviously not telling us something?" The unicorn threw her violet, curly mane over her head and cast her blue sapphire colored eyes at me. "I mean, how else will this… particular hunk of a stallion be running away from us."

My tongue was tied after comprehending her flirtatious gesture when Storm Cloud, softening at the sight of her, began circling around the white unicorn and cozied up to her without invading her personal space. "Ah well, not all of us are running away from a particular mare, if you get my drift?" He winked at her as she looked at him with pure disgust.

Then Twilight irritably reminded the unicorn, "Rarity, this "particular stallion" happens to be the detriment of Rainbow Dash's ability to appreciate some sense of peace in her life."

Feeling greatly offended of her insensitive words, I flew up close to her face and my eyes flashed against hers. "Who are you calling a detriment, you—" My words were cut off as I was yanked down hard by the tail, the dry pebbles scraped against my underbelly. I turned over to see Applejack and her hoof on my tail.

She narrowed her light, green eyes at me and asked annoyingly, "Had any pony ever tell ya that you're hot-headed? Cuz if not, I'll be the first."

Then Sky Rocket approached next to Applejack and faced Twilight disapprovingly. "Twilight Sparkle, is it? The most famous apprentice in the name of Princess Celestia herself; Wow, with such great entitlement, I'm flabbergasted that you would insult my best friend with your cruel vocabulary. Wouldn't you agree with me that your insult was very immature and offensive? I mean, you seem like a very reasonable pony and I fully trust that you can answer this question quite suitably."

Silence filled the atmosphere for awhile and Fluttershy, having been nervous throughout the whole ordeal, finally gave a relaxing smile at Sky Rocket for providing some sense of order. Seeing the astonished look on Twilight's face made me want to roll over the ground and laugh hysterically. My eyes began to water from struggling to hold in my laughter as Twilight tries to find her words.

"Well… uh… I meant…"

Then Sky continued, pretending to be sympathetic towards her. "You know, there's no need to analyze the situation too hard; it's just common sense that you wouldn't call any pony a detriment to society without a righteous cause."

_That's it… I'm about to lose it…_

Then out of nowhere, Storm Cloud guffawed out loud and stomped his hoof on the ground, fighting to regain his breath, which resulted me to follow suit. Having released my tail, Applejack stepped away from Sky Rocket in apprehension of the commotion, with Rarity and Fluttershy by her side.

I stood up on my fours and wiped my eyes to see Twilight flushed with embarrassment, her ears tilted back, when she suddenly had an epiphany and told Sky more confidently, "Actually, I do have a righteous cause; Firebolt had been nothing but grief to Rainbow Dash and he's not going to get away with it."

"Mm hm," Chorused the mares while Fluttershy stood silent and dig her hoof in the dirt.

Storm Cloud and I looked at each other, sensing that we both hope that Sky Rocket can make a good comeback against Twilight's accusation.

Sky gave an exaggerated sigh and placed his hoof on his temples. "It's a shame that you would even accuse Firebolt in that manner, considering that the pegasus whom you make her out to be a victim is the same one who made a public mockery out of my best friend. So in all essence, Rainbow Dash had brought more grief to him than he could have ever done against her."

"Yeah you tell her, Sky!" I exclaimed, my sense of dignity emerging.

Twilight rolled her eyes and shook her head before responding, "As much as I love debates, we are crunching time so I'll just get to the point: Firebolt, where were you at the time when you checked out of the hospital, which FYI you were supposed to be there for a couple of weeks and not after one whole night?"

Failing to find an answer that won't blow off my cover; I brushed off her question and cautiously replied with my own, "How did you know that I was supposed to stay there for that long?"

She gave a convincing smile at my response and simply stated, "I have my resources as well as a couple of evidences that makes you a potential suspect of theft."

Storm Cloud butted in, "Look, I don't care if you have the whole judicial system to back you up, but you don't have the authority to snoop into other pony's private history!"

Sky Rocket and I quickly glanced at each other at the hypocrisy of Storm's defense and Sky covered his saddlebag with his wing.

Then Applejack answered in an apologetic tone, "Listen ya'll, we don't mean to sound judgmental or anythin'. We were just in a search for the thief who stole Rainbow's diary and Twilight only needed some answers."

Then Rarity nodded in agreement and added sweetly, "And of course, you three gentle stallions would be so kind if you ought to help us in this serious matter."

_Funny, I thought we were ruffians just earlier… _

I scowled at Twilight, "What evidences do you have that makes me a suspect?"

She placed her hoof on her chin in deciding whether she should tell me or not, long enough for me to turn red in frustration, and finally admitted, "The evidences are very confidential. But I can say that I don't have enough to make an accusation at this point. But no worries, the truth will eventually reveal itself… it's only a matter of time."

The other mares gave each other hopeful glances while Storm shook his head in disbelief at Twilight.

She began to open her mouth until Sky Rocket held up his hoof to stop her and said, "Look Twilight, we respect your concerns of your best friend, but I advise you to be extremely cautious in your investigation; you don't want to make a false accusation. However, I'll make an offer that will serve justice for all of us. Since I see that we're all going to Rainbow Dash's party, let's walk together there as good friends and forget the fact that we've started this conversation. Deal?"

_What? _

I looked at Sky in amazement. "What do you think you're doing? We're not gonna befriend Rainbow Dash's posse." Then Fluttershy gave a little whimper and I couldn't help but notice her pitiful eyes and trembling lips.

Storm Cloud leaned towards my ear and whispered, "Well, we can be friends with Fluttershy… especially Rarity… perhaps Applejack… but we'll throw Twilight in the lake when she's not looking."

Sky Rocket gave an encouraging glance at me and pointed his head at Twilight for me to accept the deal.

I hung my head low in order to avoid looking at the purple nosy body and mumbled sarcastically, "Please join us as we embark on a wonderful journey of friendship to Rainbow Dash's party."

Yet to my surprise, Fluttershy flew right next to me and wrapped her wing on my shoulders as she pleaded with Twilight, "We would be glad to walk with them, can we? Pretty please?"

"We would?" Applejack questioned before Rarity scolded her, "Yes we would, and I would especially love to get to know Firebolt… oh and his friends too."

She flicked her hoof nonchalantly at the mention of my friends and batted her eyelashes at me as I smoothed out my mane and held my head high, savoring the pleasure of her romantic interest. No mares can ever resist my sleek torso, muscle toned abs, and handsome long mane and tail.

Twilight shook her head at her friends and replied wryly, "Alright it's settled then. We'll take a shortcut to Ponyville so we won't be late."

As we trot over a stoned bridge that enters an empty village of Ponyville, Sky Rocket leaned towards me and whispered, "Twilight is onto us. We need to look more approachable and friendly to her than we are defensive or else she'll become even more suspicious. I'll do my best to divert her from pursuing her investigation."

With that said, he trotted over to her side and made conversation about whatever that entertains her logic. The rest of the mares followed behind me and Storm, whispering to each other and making quick glances at me. Storm nudged me on my left shoulder and pointed his head at Rarity.

"So how would you rate her? I give her a 9.8 for hotness, but have to deduct 0.2 for the nasty look she gave me."

At this point, I kept imagining how Rainbow Dash and the other ponies will react if I make my entrance to the party. We're already trotting past the colorful supermarkets, restaurants, boutiques, florist shops, and bakeries that are closed temporarily and I'm starting to get cold feet the more I think about it.

"Hello… woohoo, Earth to Firebolt." Storm waved his hoof in front of my eyes as I snapped back into reality and apologized, "Sorry man, I have a lot on my mind right now."

Then he teased a little, "Ok, but don't think too much or you wind up thinking like Twilight."

We glanced at Twilight looking constipated at Sky Rocket who's lecturing the technological advantages produced by rocket science and we chuckled at the punch line until we heard music pumping around the buildings, mixed with hoots and loud chattering of party hard ponies. We all turned a corner to see a huge plaza in front of the town hall; balloons and streamers decorated onto the edifices, the DJ with electric razor mane bobbing her head with the bass, and a pink Earth pony walking up on stage to the microphone. A large rainbow colored banner, with splashes of paint and Rainbow Dash's face stenciled on it, hanged over the stage as the pink mare tapped the microphone and bubbly spoke out loud, "Citizens of Ponyville, are we having a blast or what?"

A great roar of cheers sprung out all at once as she bounced up and down with a huge grin on her face.

"All rightie then ponies, now… it is time to put your hoofs together and give a big, humongous round of applause to the fastest, bravest, and most daring pony of all Equestria, RAINBOW DASH!"

The crowd went wild, creating a deafening sound of hoof stomping on the stone paved ground, as the banner with Rainbow Dash's face ripped open and out comes the rainbow maned pegasus herself. Her grand entrance had distracted every pony from noticing us approaching into the event as she flew in loops and twists over their heads, high fiving any pony she could hover over, and danced around to the beat of the party music.

"Hmph, just look at her," Storm Cloud muttered, shaking his head. "She acts like she got the whole world wrapped around her hoof… with her skills and all. So diabolical…"

Agreeing with him, I watched her fly up into the afternoon sun, causing me to squint slightly at the burning rays, and she shot straight down into the middle of the plaza to land with her signature pose. Every pony gazed at her with wide eyes in reverence while some enthusiastically comment, "I wanna be just like her! I want to learn that move! There's no pony else like her!"

My head burns with indignation and I suddenly feel sick in the stomach when noticing how my rival looked very striking in the sun, her mane and tail glow in radiant colors.

_Aw man, she even looks like the most awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. _

Then Storm Cloud rescued me from my stupor when he said, "I don't mean to state the obvious but uh, you need to go show her whose boss."

I glanced at Sky Rocket and Twilight excitedly chatting next to the refreshment stand stocked with dozens upon dozens of soda pop bottles and then a bubbly voice spoke out once more.

"Wait a minute folks! We still have to introduce the most famous, talented fliers of the sky and official party guests…THE WONDERBOLTS!"

More cheers rang out as the three famous athletes, wearing their blue uniforms with lightning bolts and eye goggles, flew up from behind the stage and perform one of their spectacular flying routine before landing on the ground.

_This is it. Time to execute bulletin number one. _

"Hey Storm, you up for a drinking competition?" I asked, already having a mastermind plot.

Storm Cloud cocked his head to the side as if I have three heads and bragged, "Dude you must not know me; I am the all-time champion in drinking competitions."

I grab two soda bottles and threw one at Storm and said, "Get the purple cape from Sky's saddle bag, we're gonna play with the awesomeness."

Storm responded with a snicker as I walked into the crowd and towards the rainbow maned pegasus who just turned to greet the bouncing pink pony. I was still trying to form an idea of how to approach Rainbow when a couple of eyes, specifically the pegasi's that worked in the weather factory, had laid on me and some gasps and surprised faces followed. Holding the soda pop in my hoofs, I twisted the top off with my teeth, which made a loud sizzle, and caused the spotlight to shine on me. Rainbow was too busy talking to the pink mare to notice the music had just stopped playing until her friend's light blue eyes grew wide and gave a sharp squeal of delight at the sight of me. "Omigosh! It's the famous Firebolt!"

Rainbow finally turned to see her nightmare in the flesh and I thought her mouth was going to touch the floor. She managed to stammer, "F-F-Firebolt? W-wha, huh?"

_Priceless! _

Placing the soda pop on the floor, I circled around the bewildered Pegasus, enthusing at the sight of her face instantly changing into a grim expression. "What's up Rainbow Dash? Nice party you got here. Thanks for inviting me since well, you know… we're not in good terms and all."

"I didn't invite you!" She snapped, still giving me the evil eye as I stopped next to her and leaned slightly closer to her ear.

"So who did?" I asked coolly

"I DID!" Shouted the pink mare as Rainbow quickly turned to face her.

"Pinkie Pie? Why did you invite this creature into my party?"

Pinkie Pie exclaimed breathlessly in a fast pace, "I just followed the special order that you gave me last week which is…" She began to mimic the voice of Rainbow Dash. "Pinkie Pie, I need you to invite every single pony that I know to come to my awesome party. Oh duty calls, gotta Dash!" She made a sound effect of Rainbow's speedy exit at the end and continued in her own high pitched voice, "You didn't say that I was not supposed to invite Firebolt over. Oh but look! He's cured and out of the hospital, woohoo!" She giggled with enthusiasm while bouncing up and down in one place.

The conversation was starting to feel awkward until I broke the silence. "If it makes you feel any better Rainbow, I don't wanna fight with you."

"Well that's too bad," she snapped again, "'cause I do!"

She lunged at me when suddenly pulled back by the tail and straddled down on the ground by Applejack, Twilight, and Sky Rocket. Then I feel every pony's amusing eyes on the scene and, to my liking, the Wonderbolts even took notice. Grabbing their attention was too easy and I hadn't even executed my plot yet.

Elated of how this commotion is going to end, I shouted out loud for every pony to hear, "Well Rainbow Dash, I can see that you decided to pick this time to humiliate yourself in front of your friends!"

Then Rainbow made a comeback, totally oblivious of intensifying the Wonderbolt's attention. "Haha, that's funny! You know what else is funny? The fact that your doctor performed a brain transplant on you and the brain rejected you."

"Ohhhh!" The audience echoed as Pinkie looked confused of Rainbow's insult. "Firebolt had a brain transplant?"

I stood there; getting slightly ticked off at her, and angrily replied, "What did you call me? Why don't you keep talking until you say something intelligent?"

Sky Rocket signaled me to stop adding fuel to the fire as a reminder of our plan while Applejack kept hold of Rainbow's tail and began comforting her, "Not out here, sugarcube. Right now, this is the time to enjoy ourselves. Save the fightin' for next time, deal?"

Rainbow gritted her teeth under their weight on her and snorted defiantly, but already stopped squirming.

"That's right!" Pinkie Pie confirmed, completely unaware to the tension. "Because according to our schedule, you have to get back on stage so we can all share to Ponyville our inspirations of you."

Applejack faced the entire audience and called out, "There's nothin' to see here ya'll! Get to your business."

After many ponies scattered from the scene, Pinkie supported Applejack's intentions by signaling the DJ to play music again when a female member of the Wonderbolts walked over to us with obvious concern and asked, "Are you guys playing nice over here?"

I looked down at Rainbow who was just lying on the ground in irritation a second ago, but stood straight back up and gave a huge grin to convince the Wonderbolt member. "Eh heh… yeah Spitfire, everything's cool here; nothing to see here at all!" She rubbed the back of her neck in slight distress of almost getting caught fighting in front of her idol.

But seizing the opportunity of having one of the Wonderbolts members', or Spitfire's, direct attention on us, I executed my mastermind plot.

"So Rainbow, you think you're the coolest pony of all Equestria?" I challenged as she narrowed her eyes at me with suspicion.

She affirmed, "I don't think; I know. Why you ask?"

I picked up my soda bottle from the ground and slammed it onto the nearest picnic table before making my offer. "I challenge you to a drinking competition against this stallion." I pointed at Storm Cloud who just entered the scene on cue, wearing the purple cape around him in a heroic fashion and holding a bottle in his hoof.

"Woohoo! Any pony dares to challenge the Master?" He boasted, and poured soda onto his head and shook it all over the nearest ponies. A couple of ponies rooted for Storm's entrance while Pinkie Pie bursts out with giggles and snorts at his costume.

Sky Rocket gave a perplexed look at me while Applejack and Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash to see her reaction. Rainbow Dash checked to see that Spitfire was still there, who's actually waiting for her response, and then she glanced back at me with a devious smile.Creating suspense in the atmosphere, she walked towards Storm Cloud who's soaked with soda and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"So you want me to compete with the 'Master of Drinking competitions?'" She looked at Storm for support. "Isn't that what you bragged about to me back at the weather factory?"

Storm nodded his head eagerly as Rainbow removed her arm from him and made her conclusion.

"As much as I respect Storm, I prefer to compete with some pony who only thinks he can outshine the coolest pony of all Equestria." She looked at me slyly with her piercing magenta colored eyes and stepped closer to me. "That is… if you're game."


	6. Chapter 6

Firebolt

Chapter 6

I kept a front at the face of Rainbow's challenge, but can feel my blood turning cold. There's no way that I can compete against a hardcore daredevil like her, despite of having some hands-on experience from previous drinking competitions. My plan was for her to compete against Storm Cloud so he can beat her easily. And knowing her since colthood, she absolutely hates losing, especially in front of those whom she wants to impress; losing in front of the Wonderbolts would be the ultimate humiliation against her little unfortunate, depraved soul…

Then Twilight, who's using her magic to levitate a clipboard in front of Rainbow, warned, "There's no time for this. You only have five minutes and fifty two seconds to be on stage."

Rainbow however flicked the clipboard out of her line of vision and sat herself down on the picnic table, circling the dry wood with her hoof. "Here's the rule! Whoever drinks the most soda bottles in less than five minutes, wins!"

Hating the idea of wimping out in front of a bunch of girls, I also sat myself down across from Rainbow; I might as well stick to my challenge. Then Rarity, with Fluttershy following behind her, came with a huge tray of soda bottles that is levitating in a pink magical aura and placed it on the picnic table.

"Oh goodness gracious, today is just dreadfully hot! And it's burning the ends of my hair," Rarity complained to her friends and sighed. "Soda pops any pony? My-"

Rainbow Dash snatched the tray away vigorously and situated the soda bottles in rows, leaving Rarity in questioning. "Um, did I miss something crucial here?"

After counting the number of pop bottles, Rainbow Dash noticed the uneven amount and demanded Fluttershy, "Go get six more pop bottles and STAT! Six bottles is the maximum amount for each competitor to gorge down for this game."

Sky Rocket and Storm noticed my silent cry for help and they both quickly concoct a plan to save me from another humiliation. Storm immediately sprints over to Pinkie Pie and cupped his hoof in her ear while Sky galloped after Fluttershy who's already next to the refreshment stand.

Apple Jack tentatively looked at Rainbow. "Uh… don't ya think that's a little too much soda?"

"Lighten up AJ; we're just having a little fun, ain't that right Bolt?" Rainbow questioned with a devilish countenance as I silently gulped and forced myself to answer in what hopefully sounds very sincere, "Yeah, ahem… right."

I briefly glanced at Storm Cloud and Pinkie Pie running to the concession stand and grabbed a small red bottle to give to Sky and Fluttershy with the refreshments.

"What's taking Fluttershy so long?" Rainbow complained impatiently as her friends looked around through the party crowd for the shy, yellow pegasus.

_I need to make a distraction…_

Without any pony looking, which was a big relief considering the large amount of ponies surrounding us, I knocked over the organized rows of plastic soda bottles off the table and they landed on the ground, with tons of white bubbles forming inside them. Rainbow and her friends jolted at the loud impact and then glanced at my phony guilt expression. "Oops, aww… I am so sorry! Curse my messy habits. Gee Rainbow, I hope you weren't going to use those bottles for our competition. They can get pretty messy, you know?"

She looked at me skeptically and suddenly seemed to have what may be a splendid idea… to her that is. Twilight and Applejack were placing the bottles back on the table when Rainbow said, "Oh no worries Firebolt, I'll just let you drink these bottles."

Spitfire cocked an eyebrow at the ludicrous idea and the Wonderbolts began whispering to each other in confusion while Twilight shook her head at her friend. "That's not fair, Rainbow."

But I grabbed the shaken six bottles close to my side of the table and reassured Twilight, "Eh no sweat, I'll let the lady have the wheel in governing this game. After all, she has a poor habit of keeping her own word."

Rainbow gave me a menacing glare. "What? I always keep my word!"

Since I'm already leading her down to memory lane, I rolled my eyes at her and grumbled, "Yeah until that one day."

There was a brief awkward silence throughout the rest of the group before Applejack asked, "Rainbow what in tarnation is he talkin' about?"

Rainbow, her seething eyes still on me, answered in a lowered tone. "Nothing AJ, he's just another traitor that has a poor habit of saying stupid things."

Cut to the heart by the word 'traitor', I wanted to open up the can of worms right then and there but soon noticed Storm and Sky returning with Pinkie and Fluttershy, all together holding the tray of six soda bottles with their noses.

"See, I told you this is fun!" Pinkie giggled, while Fluttershy's terrified face expressed otherwise.

They lowered the tray onto the table and Sky Rocket gave me a confident wink, placing an unsealed soda bottle near Rainbow's side. Twilight seemed to catch his hidden gesture; she suspiciously sets her violet eyes on Sky as he walked towards her side. Pinkie Pie occupied herself as the drinking competition announcer on stage, rousing Spitfire and the Wonderbolts to watch our game with much interest, as well as the rest of their fans.

Rainbow Dash and I placed our first sealed bottle in front of us, without shifting away our menacing looks when Storm whispered in my right ear, "We've added a little surprise in one of Rainbow's bottles; the one with an open seal. Just hope she won't notice it. Good luck!"

I assured him with a snort, still eyeing my nemesis who placed her muzzle near the cap of the bottle until Pinkie shouted in the mike, "On your mark, get set… GO!"

I twisted the cap off but pulled my face away from the foaming liquid spewing out of the bottle while Rainbow is already drinking her first. Pacing myself, I pulled my head back and drank down my first like water; the cool lemon lime enlightening my taste buds, the seltzer burning down my throat.

"That's right Bolt! Lookin' good!" Storm Cloud cheered, stomping his hoofs on the ground.

Rainbow is guzzling down her second as I twist open mine. On the corner of my eye, Fluttershy clung onto Applejack fretfully while Sky bites onto the tips of his hoofs. The crowd rooted for Rainbow Dash more loudly than ever. The inside of my nose stings with excessive carbonated gas as I gulp down my third pop bottle.

_Come on Rainbow, drink the unsealed bottle already!_

"Three minutes left!" Pinkie announced.

Rainbow stopped to rub down her nose, her eyes shut with tears. I seized that time to suck in air, my stomach churning and sweat rolling down the bridge of my nose.

"Come on Bolt! Make me proud!" Storm Cloud hollered.

Rainbow slugs down her fourth drink and gave a loud belch. Rarity fainted.

"Yeehaaww! That a girl Rainbow!" Shouted Applejack.

I can't even look at my fourth bottle without nearly heaving acidic water. My chin slammed on the table, a pool of my drool formed on the surface. Panting for oxygen, I felt the table shook and Rainbow's perspired face came into view. Her rainbow mane matted across her forehead and cheeks. She opened her eyes slightly at me and managed to sneer, "Giving up Bolt?"

Pinkie shouted in the mike, "One minute and thirty seconds left folks! Rainbow Dash is in the lead with only two bottles left while Firebolt has three more to go."

The unsealed bottle was too far away from Rainbow's reach but within mine. Rainbow relaxed on the table, seeing that I'm not even reaching for my fourth bottle.

_Crap, she's winning and she knows it…_

I let out a burp and swallowed down the bile that nearly escaped. I grabbed my fourth bottle and shook it hard as I can. Rainbow raised her head in skepticism, but nonetheless, this is my only shot at this. Popping the cap off, I shot the foam-like liquid into her face. My opponent's face soaked and sputtering out liquid, I pushed the unsealed bottle in front of her and drank down my fourth soda.

The crowd gasped and cheered ecstatically! Hoofs thundered on the ground, shaking the table itself. Sky Rocket and Storm Cloud both hollering, "Yeah! Get her done, Firebolt! Whoo!"

Twilight and Fluttershy gaped at the commotion while Applejack hollered, "Why that little cheater!"

"Thirty seconds left! They're closing into a tie with only two more bottles to go!" Pinkie declared.

But Rainbow Dash is not giving up without a fight. She wiped the soda out of her eyes and shook the unsealed bottle. Suddenly the soda started oozing out of the cap.

_Ha!_

She scrutinized the cap before I shouted at her, "Oh Rainbow, I finished my fourth…" I burped, "… bottle."

She saw me reached for my fifth drink and quickly opened the bottle in her hoofs. She chugged it down and was slowly catching up to me.

Gulping down too hastily, the liquid went down the wrong way and I doubled over, hacking to clear out my throat.

Pinkie shouted, "We're counting down the last ten seconds! Ten!"

I'm coughing out uncontrollably, gasping for air.

"Nine!"

Rainbow is finishing her drink halfway.

"Eight!"

I gasped for air.

"Seven!"

I chugged down my soda again.

"Six!"

Rainbow stopped drinking briefly, suddenly turning red.

"Five!"

I continued drinking as Rainbow screamed in agony, "Gaaaahhhh!"

"Four!"

Steam coming out of her ears, she flew out of her chair.

"Three!"

The audience stopped counting down and watched Rainbow zoom all over the plaza, popping balloons and entangled herself in the streamers.

"Two!"

Pinkie's voice was only heard in the plaza as I finally finished my fifth bottle. Rainbow pushed herself harder to reach the water bottles on the refreshment stand but the streamers slingshot her into the banner.

"One!"

She collapsed onto the stage as the banner tumbled down on top of her. After Rainbow popped her head up through the ripped opening, Pinkie cried out next to her, "Game over!"

All the ponies gasped at the sight of their role model shaking the soda off her mane and looking dizzily out to the crowd. Then after giving an obnoxious burp, she was rewarded with an all out cackling from hundreds of ponies, including the Wonderbolts. I couldn't tell if her cheeks were reddening from something she drank or the sheer embarrassment as a laughingstock. Rarity galloped onto the stage, with a water bottle levitating by her magic, and gave it gently to her strung out best friend. Pinkie Pie looked appallingly at the crowd's response and she ran to Rainbow's side with great concern. It wasn't before long that all of Rainbow's best friends ran up to assist her while Storm Cloud patted me on the back. "You did it Bolt! You beat Rainbow Dash!"

Sky Rocket looked at the Wonderbolts who are hiding their faces from laughing out loud at the blue pegasus. "This officially checks off the first bulletin."

Just then a voice with a country accent sounded out from the mike towards the crowd. "Ya'll think this is funny? If I were you, I wouldn't be laughin' if it were you on that stage. Ya'll oughta be ashame of yerselves."

Fluttershy lie next to Rainbow Dash and nuzzle her cheeks against her for emotional support. Pinkie tried to tell a joke to make the pegasus smile again. From the stage, Twilight searched through the damage around the plaza and rested her eyes on me and my friends. She held her gaze at me for a moment and then turned to whisper something in Rarity's ear. Rarity nodded her head and walked towards the mike, occupied by Applejack. By the time Rarity took hold of the mike, Applejack got some of the ponies to quiet down into questioning their own rudeness.

Rarity spoke with charm, "Oh, may I have your attention please ladies and gentlecolts?"

All the ponies grew silent as they listened to the glamorous unicorn.

"Ahh that's much better. Thank you kindly. I am greatly honored to have Rainbow Dash choosing us to be the orators of her fine demonstration to the pegasus workers of the weather factory, to clarify the essence of teamwork."

Storm Cloud perked his ears up suddenly and excitedly gushed, "Yes, she finally recognizes me!" Sky Rocket hushed him and listened intently at Rarity's speech.

_Oh… my… gosh…_

Rarity then walked towards Rainbow lying pale on the stage and continued, "Rainbow Dash here had also volunteered to pretend to be a pegasus worker who's been socially mistreated by an arrogant captain or even a handsome assistant manager."

Rarity swept her long, curly mane in my direction, in which Twilight gave her a stern look that made her simmer down her personal choice of words.

"Ahem excuse me, I meant a professional assistant manager. Now continuing the demonstration, allow me to give a personal perspective. Wouldn't you feel totally humiliated if your own leader offends you in front of your team? Why it doesn't take rocket science to see that this cruel type of treatment can make any worker have a very low self-esteem."

Twilight cuts in for Rarity, "And for that very reason, citizens of Cloudsdale and Ponyville, is why the weather factory today has many workers fighting against their leaders, causing more workers to stop trusting in each other and eventually dividing the weather corporate altogether." Then Twilight and Rarity lift Rainbow Dash up on her fours and Twilight continued, "However there's hope. The weather factory can get back in business by eliminating the unnecessary strife. How? You may ask."

Applejack jumped into the speech. "By workin' together with great humility. That's right! Leaders must stop abusin' their power and learn to treat their workers with respect; whereas the pegasus workers must learn to obey them without back sassing. And if there's any fightin' or disagreement between the captains, workers-"

"Or even an assistant manager." Twilight interrupted, shooting the evil eye at me.

Applejack continued after a brief pause, "Don't ignore the problem and hope that it'll disappear all by itself 'cause that'll only make things worse. Talk to that partner about it right away and strive to make peace."

Pinkie Pie began bouncing cheerfully and added, "And when every pegasus worker makes peace with each other, they can throw a gigantic party!"

All the mares on stage simply stared at Pinkie in confusion.

"You know, to show how much they respect one another in friendship." Pinkie explained.

Then Twilight stated, ""Uh, we're getting off topic here…"

"Um… uh," Fluttershy managed to speak, "May I add that if you show kindness to your fellow workers, the weather team can stay united for a very long time and produce rainclouds that can provide drinking water for all the living creatures."

"And to keep our soil nice and damp for planting food." Applejack added with genuine interest.

Near the end of their speech, Twilight magically levitated five soda cans from the nearest picnic table and gave them to her friends and herself, except Rainbow Dash. Rarity seemed disgusted of holding her soda can; perhaps the soda drinking competition had traumatized her for good. But Applejack gave a wink at Rainbow Dash who then smiled at all of her best friends' efforts.

Rarity forced herself to smile at the crowd and concluded, "We're finishing our lovely presentation with this idea in mind: Without harmony among the leaders and workers, teamwork cannot exist; and without teamwork, Cloudsdale's glorious weather factory can never ever provide us with all natural, refreshing, cool rainwater… I mean seriously, it's a drought down here. Put the past behind you and work together."

Rarity hesitated for a moment and gave a pleading glance at Twilight who then shook her head and motioned her to continue.

"Um, Twilight wants to further demonstrate of how to use teamwork, even if one of us thinks her friends are absolutely sickening."

She glared at Twilight who's already whispering about something to her friends in a huddle and then briskly motioned Rarity to continue as Rainbow Dash stood beside her friends, facing the audience. Rarity sighed, "And without further ado…"

Twilight then signaled all of them to gulp down their soda cans while Applejack, drinking her own soda can, began patting hard on Rainbow's back, forcing her to belch out loudly with her best friends all at once.

"Excuse me," Rarity spoke with embarrassment while Applejack chuckled, "Heh heh, pardon…"

Pinkie Pie's earsplitting giggle made the rest of the mares laugh out loud, which made the rest of the crowd to chortle with them and gave a big round of applause of their practically improvised speech.

Then the Wonderbolts stepped onto the stage to congratulate Rainbow Dash for sharing her act of encouragement and supporting the weather factory's new teamwork policy. I can feel my face contorting with sheer irritation as Rainbow Dash got her confidence back and ran to the mike with a huge grin. "Thank you all for listening to this amazing presentation! Let's give another round of applause to the mares that represent the Elements of Harmony!"

The crowd went wild as Sky Rocket and I couldn't say a word to what had just happened before our eyes until Storm Cloud was the first to comment, "Maybe we should cross out the first bulletin."


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long wait…life… and stuff…. Also, we are in production of two stories. One is a Horror story about scary things, the other is a story about ponies that are young that will somehow link to this story. If you want, you could tell us which one we should prioritize.**

**ONE LAST THING: THE SPEECH IN CHAPT 6 WILL MAKE SENCE HERE! HOWEVER, WE DID NOTCE THAT IT WAS A BIT HARD TO UNDERSTAND, SO WE MADE IT WHERE YOU COULD… UNDERSTAND IT. SO GO REREAD IT SO YOU MAY… UNDERSTAND!**

**What are you waiting for? Read the freaken story!**

Firebolt

Chapter 7

Clinging tightly around the toilet bowl, I heaved into it excessively; a sense of relief overcame my stomach. My own sweat drenched my forehead. Nearly toppling over on the brown tiled floor in the public bathroom, I reached for the sink and slurped in cool water from the faucet and regurgitated out the bitter tasting bile from my tongue.

"Feeling better, Bolt?" Storm Cloud's voice echoed the room, leaning against one of the bathroom stalls.

Sky Rocket placed the paper towels on the sink for me to dry my face with and spoke to Storm, "I still can't believe you think binging on soda pop is 'harmless entertainment'. Just look at the physical state that mindless game produces." He pointed at my weary countenance, my legs looking all jittery from the sugar rush.

Still feeling slightly dazed if not wide awake, I took a moment to recollect my failed attempt in humiliating Rainbow Dash in front of the Wonderbolts.

_She's not going to get away with this… _

Suddenly Storm Cloud cried out with much enthusiasm as he flew around the bathroom, "Best party ever! That was so cool when Rainbow Dash was like all up in your grill and you like shot soda pop into her smugly face! Oh and that stunt she pulled after drinking the bottle with hot sauce in it! Heh heh, now that's a work from a genius right there, if I do say so myself." Storm crossed his arms and lifted his nose up as Sky Rocket narrowed his eyes at him and shook his head.

"Don't you mean it takes a genius to come up with the plot instead of doing it?" Sky Rocket asked, dropping hints at Storm with his tone as he watches me spit into the sink.

Storm gave a little smirk at Sky and placed both of his front hoofs on his hips, still hovering above us. "Well you've only thought of it, but I've got Pinkie Pie to put hot sauce in Rainbow's soda bottle. So that means I get the glory."

Sky Rocket sucked in his teeth and changed the subject when he commented, "The party was great. I particularly like the Mane Six Speech."

Turning to look at Sky, I asked wryly, "The Mane Six Speech?"

"Absolutely, that's what every pony is calling it now." His eyes wander off in concentration of recalling the events and he marveled, "Twilight Sparkle was outstanding in utilizing her organizational skills in an improvised presentation. What a talent!"

On that note, Storm dropped himself next to Sky and began to tease, "Ohhh get it Sky. Get it!" He elbowed Sky while raising his eyebrows.

"Wha…? Oh no! Not in that way! I'm just saying that… You got to understand… I-it was a smart idea… you know, for her to use Rarity as the orator… because she clearly has superb vocabulary." Sky's face was turning beet red and quickly looked away from Storm who leaned against the bathroom stall and continued teasing, "Hmm interesting observation, now tell your best pals how you think Twilight looked on stage."

Sky didn't answer for awhile and finally replied, "That's beside the point; the speech had also made me question about how both of you and Firebolt are handling the social misconduct in the weather factory."

_What the heck Sky, why do you care?_

Playing along with Sky's attempt to change the subject, Storm answered with gusto, "Well Captain Rainbow Dash is the best leader I can ever have. She always says that our strengths and weaknesses force every individual to work together and, as a result, we learn to respect each other."

Suddenly feeling sick all over again, I begin to wonder if it's the soda still sitting in my stomach or Storm's incessant praises of Rainbow Dash's amazing leadership skills. Quickly returning to my stall, I heaved into the toilet in time until Storm said, "I've hadn't yet seen other leaders mistreating their workers in person, but I heard some rumors about the lightning team having leaders that are just plain cruel to them. Hey Bolt, do you know any leader who's like that?"

No longer feeling another wave of nausea, I took a moment to consider his question; there's no way that I can confess to them about my conduct towards my co-workers… or should I say back biters. In their eyes, I am one of their "cruel leaders." But come to think of it, I'm not as cruel as my captains; they're much worse. After flushing the toilet, I wiped my mouth with a paper towel and stepped out of the stall. "Okay guys, let's focus on our mission. Now we were so close into checking off that first bulletin but now we need to act on our second."

There was a bit of hesitancy in the air as Sky slowly pulled out Rainbow's diary from his saddlebag while Storm bit his bottom lip and tried not to meet my gaze.

"What's up with you two?" I asked confusedly and eyed Storm Cloud with much intensity to the point that he shifted his weight awkwardly. Sky Rocket remained calm and silent as he opened the diary and pulled out his organized list of bulletins until Storm Cloud finally gave in and answered, "Bolt why don't we… you know… give it a rest."

Dead silence quickly crept into the atmosphere and only a single drop of water created a disturbance as I stared appallingly at my friends. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Storm was about to open his mouth when Sky placed his hoof on his shoulder. "I got this, Storm." He made one step forward and shifted his blue eyes at me with much sternness. "We don't think it's wise to continue seeking vengeance against Rainbow Dash."

As if my world had turned upside down, it took me a long time to finally comprehend his gutsy statement. Unfortunately for my so-called friends, I despise it. Sky seized the moment of silence to explain. "The fact that we've failed to check off one of our bulletins is what made us reconsider our actions. Personally, I think that continuing will only bring dire consequences."

Then Storm Cloud supported, "Bolt, this vengeance thing is getting a bit old. I mean seriously, I can't stay angry long enough to seek vengeance against my own captain."

My tone begins to rise. "Wow! That's just great. After all of our efforts, you two decided to give up!"

Sky sensed my frustration and tried to convince, "Now Bolt, don't you think we've humiliated Rainbow enough at her own party?"

A loud punch at the bathroom stall door made the stallions jump instantly as I snarled, "That doesn't count! Her friends saved her reputation! And now she looks ten times better in front of the Wonderbolts… AND the weather corporate!"

"Will you stop being a drama queen?" Storm slowly raised his voice in annoyance as Sky took another step towards me and again tried to persuade evenly. "Bolt, remember when you used to bully me back at middle school?"

I cried out in frustration, "Darn it Sky! That was the past, why are you bringing this up?"

Sky still maintained his tone. "If it wasn't for Storm, I would still be angry and would never become friends with you. Perhaps you shouldn't stay angry with Rainbow."

In another moment of silence, Sky and Storm watched me pace around the bathroom vehemently. I threw up my hoofs in irritation and slammed them on the sink, staring at my own obscured reflection in the mirror. They really don't get it. They don't get it AT ALL! After giving a final snort, I walked towards the traitors and grumbled, "Fine. Have it your way. I'll do this alone." I snatched the diary and the bulletin list away from Sky Rocket and exit out of the bathroom to be greeted by a bright light.

As soon as my eyes became adjusted to the bright rays, I walked down the stoned pavement, passing by the water fountains. The mowed grass had some brown patches in every corner and covered with withered crispy leaves. A warm, arid breeze blew softly against my bright, fiery mane; nothing could cool me off at this point. The wooden park benches circulated around a huge elaborated water fountain with three pony statues on top. The statues spew out light green water over the murky pool.

Within minutes after being outside, my head is getting scorched under the sun's ruthless heat and I turned to the tree closest to me to rest under its shade. I placed the diary down on the grass and was grateful to see a row of bushes serving as my hiding place from any suspicious eyes; at least there are some things in life that can bring a sense of optimism. Lying down on the dry, prickly grass, I flipped through the pages in search for any crucial information; Rainbow's likes, dislikes, favorites, hobbies, love interests, or something. Then my own name was found on a page, its date entry was around the time when Rainbow Dash befriended me after one whole month. After checking to see if there are any spies lurking around, I began to read her entry:

_Dear Diary,_

_I'm writing again. Tada! I told you that I'll write one of the best things that ever happened to me. So listen up, cuz I'm gonna let it rip! This Saturday, I was hanging out with Firebolt at the playground. You know, the one next to the summer flying academy. Anyway, we were crawling in the cloud tubes and Bolt wouldn't shut up about lightning bolts! I mean seriously! That kid keeps going on and on and on like a broken record. Lightning bolt this, lightning bolt that! So for me to shut him up, I decided to challenge him to fly up and touch the highest cloud in the sky. Man, that look on his face was priceless! I was hoping that he would be too chicken to take on my challenge but he opened up his tiny feathered wings and shot straight up into the air._

Just then a loud rustle of the leaves had interrupted and I looked up to see nothing but more pale green, dried up leaves. Figuring it's just the wind blowing, I continued reading:

_Suddenly, I wanted to have some of the action. So I flew up after him as fast as I could and before I knew it, we're both flying up to the sky neck and neck. The wind blowing my mane. The adrenaline pumping within me. We're literally fighting against the dangers of gravity with the beat of our wings. Come to think of it, I did like one thing about this wimpy-looking colt: he has that don't-give-up attitude. It felt like hours of flying up and I was getting a teensy weensy bit tired of flapping my wings. Okay fine, I got really tired… actually very, very tired. I wanted to rest but there weren't any clouds in sight, except the one that Firebolt wants to touch up ahead of him. I mean it when I say this but… I tried my hardest to keep flying. My wings ached so much that I couldn't keep going. Gravity was pulling me down fast. That part caught me off guard; cuz I'm rarely scared of anything. But I was about to be pancakes until Firebolt wrapped his arms around me. He tried lifting me up with all the bit of strength left in him, but I can tell that he was getting tired too. He told me to flap my wings in the same beat as his and so I did. We flapped our wings as hard as we can like our life depends on it. Literally! But we finally landed on the highest cloud. We were so glad with that cloud, it became our refuge. I was too weak to give Bolt a high wing five, but if I ever had to fly up this high again, I'm taking this little colt with me. Best heroic stunt ever!_

The last sentence was vocalized loudly by Rainbow Dash herself. My blood turning cold and all my fur standing up, I found her over the row of bushes from a short distance as her friends walked towards the elaborate water fountain with the statues. Being well hidden behind the foliage, I watched Applejack carry Rainbow Dash on her back and slid her onto the edge of the fountain. Pinkie Pie bounced right next to Rainbow and placed a ginger ale bottle close to her face. Resting on her stomach in agony, Rainbow ignored the beverage and praised her five best friends more weakly, "You guys were great. With that speech, I'm sure gonna look good in the weather history books." She smiled at the mention of her own comment but groaned loudly, folding her wings over her stomach. Fluttershy sat next to Rainbow on the concrete edge of the fountain and rubbed her back down to relieve her suffering.

Twilight seemed to appreciate her praises and confidently replied, "Well after listening to all your stories concerning the teamwork policy and your ranting about how Firebolt was fairly inconsiderate to his lightning captains, it was quite easy. But I couldn't have organized a better speech without the help of Rarity's great skill of improvisation."

Twilight shifted the special attention to Rarity who fluffed her violet, curly mane modestly. "Oh darling you don't say, it's all from experience in hosting fashion shows, that's all."

Applejack wiped the sweat off her brow after carrying Rainbow and added, "And the speech really helped the pegasus workers to understand the value of teamwork… Uh Rainbow, ya need to drink that juice."

Rainbow looked at the ginger ale bottle and became filled with disgust. "This stuff tastes nasty, AJ!"

Applejack rolled her eyes at her crankiness and reluctantly reassured, "This'll help your upset stomach." With that said, she watched the sick pegasus cover her nose and drank in the juice.

Then Rarity scolded at Rainbow, "Now let this be an important lesson that you won't act like a glutton pig in wolfing down those unhealthy soda pops in one sitting."

Then Rainbow shoved the ginger ale bottle away from her repulsively and glanced at the five mares, her eyes narrowing. "Oh yeah and that reminds me, what the hay are you guys doing with Firebolt and his friends?"

Applejack answered calmly, "To be honest, we only found him on the ground talkin' to Fluttershy." Every pony's eyes turned to the shy pegasus as she lowered her ears in shame and quietly mumbled, "I was just… helping him."

"With what?" Rainbow insisted a bit angrily when Twilight stepped in front of Fluttershy in defense for her. "That's not the main problem right now, Rainbow. The matter is that Fluttershy found him out of the hospital."

"So! What does that got to do with anything?" Rainbow asked impatiently.

Twilight gave her a stern look in which Rainbow immediately softened her own attitude and listened closely when she explained, "Remember we found the orange feather under your mattress and I checked off which ponies you knew have that same color? Firebolt was one of the few pegasi that has orange feathers."

Her mood lightening up a bit, Rainbow cocked her head to the side in genuine interest. "Well yeah, but I thought he was being hospitalized. How can he be in my house?"

"Well I visited the hospital to confirm my speculation, but the doctor informed me just this morning that he was missing… So in essence, he could be anywhere during the time of your absence from home."

Twilight watched the rest of the mares gasped all at once and they began chatting nervously to each other as Rainbow furrowed her brows in deep thinking, her eyes wandering aimlessly. She began mumbling out loud to herself, "I did hear something up in my bedroom… which is why I flew up there to find the source… but I didn't see any pony. So I reached for my diary, but had to answer the door and chat with Storm Cloud." Her eyes widened suddenly and sat up straight in distress. "Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh, omigosh!"

Suddenly Pinkie shouted, "Aha! I know who's the orange pegasus that stole your diary, Rainbow. It is…" She drummed on the stoned pavement with her hoofs before accusing, "Scootaloo!"

Rainbow shook her head at Pinkie's ridiculous accusation. "Scootaloo is my best number one fan out of all the foals in Ponyville. She loves me too much to invade my privacy." Then she tapped her hoof on her lower lip and pointed out, "It has to be some pony who hates my guts… and who's out of the hospital like… Firebolt."

_Uh oh…_

Twilight nodded her head at Rainbow's answer in which all the mares began to rant angrily about the wickedness of my deed, yet Fluttershy cast her eyes down on the ground and mumbled, "B-b-but why Firebolt would want to steal her diary?"

Then Pinkie Pie commented in bewilderment, "I know! You guys make Firebolt sound like a big meanie Mcmeaner pants! He and his friends were nothing but fun at the party. Sky Rocket loved talking to Twilight, Firebolt played with Rainbow Dash in a soda competition, and Storm Cloud told me to put hot sauce in her drink."

"WHAT? Pinkie, how could you?" Rainbow shouted in great disbelief and shot up into the air above her as I chuckled within myself. Pinkie's eyes watered and her ears tilted flat against her head at her friend's outburst but Twilight placed her hoof over her shoulders with compassion and told Rainbow calmly, "It wasn't her fault, she was used against you. When we became acquainted with Firebolt and his friends, I could tell that Sky Rocket was very strategic by his mannerism and eloquent speech…" She hesitated for a minute and slowly continued, "He managed to get me to let my guard down for a moment…" Her cheeks reddened at the thought of it and seemed to regret of her mistake but grew more serious. "That is, until I saw him winked at Firebolt after placing the unsealed bottle next to you, Rainbow. It seems to me that Firebolt is plotting something against you… which may explain of why he stole your diary."

Rainbow snorted in fury and growled, "Oh when I get my hoofs on him, I'm gonna make him wish that he was never born!"

Fluttershy placed both of her hoofs in front of her mouth and slowly ventured towards the fuming pegasus who just landed back down on the fountain. "Um Rainbow, I know you're a little upset…"

"A little?" Rainbow cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Oh um… ok, extremely outraged at Firebolt. But why don't you try a different approach… like in a very kind and-"

"Sugarcube," Applejack interrupted, "I'm sorry but, why would you wanna be kind to a thief, trespasser, liar, and a cheater? Just look at how he used us."

"Oh… uh well, when you put it that way it sounds very, very ridiculous… but…"

Rarity cried out, placing her hoof over her own head, "But what, Fluttershy? He had toyed with our emotions! Force us to live in his lie! And used us like his puppets. Oh, this is the worst kind of stallion you can ever dare to meet in your life!" She lie on top of the park bench in a dramatic pose while Rainbow grumbled with her arms crossed, "Pffft, well at least I live up to my reputation: World's most known daredevil who dares to meet Firebolt… daily."

The tension in the atmosphere was high and I could tell that Fluttershy is alone on her point of view. She gulped and said in a forced tone, "I believe every problem will be solved if Rainbow and Firebolt can make up and become friends again."

There was a pause in between the mares until Rainbow broke the silence with an outburst of hilarity, her eyes watering and her hoofs pounding on the concrete ledge. She took a deep breath from laughing too hard and managed to say, "Good one Fluttershy! I expected Pinkie to say something random to cheer me up. Hehee, you've just made my day; I'll give you props for that."

Although the other mares were amazed of Fluttershy's bizarre proposition, Rainbow Dash stood up on her fours, stretching out her legs, and exhaled with satisfaction. "My stomach is starting to feel a little better now. So I'm just gonna take my late afternoon nap; I can hear the trees calling my name."

Bouncing back into her joyful self, Pinkie exclaimed, "Rainbow Dash, don't be silly! Trees don't talk!" She wildly looked around the trees and strained to hear the faintest sound in which every pony began to giggle.

Rainbow spread out her wings and hovered over the five mares as I pushed myself further against the bush to avoid her line of vision. Then I noticed a light purple tail sticking out of the tree leaves above me but had quickly retreated back inside.

_Is that Storm Cloud? _

Rainbow spoke out loud to all of her friends, "Don't worry girls, Firebolt and his friends are not going to get away with this. Twilight and I will call the pegasus cops as soon as we find Firebolt dead in his tracks."

Fluttershy and Pinkie cried out in horror, "DEAD?"

Applejack calmed the shocked mares. "Don't worry ya'll, it's only a figure of speech."

Rainbow flew up on the highest tree branch on the opposite side of the water fountain when Rarity reminded her, "Now you must attend your modeling session before tonight's fashion show and I don't want to hear you making another excuse that you've overslept… like you did the last time."

Rainbow groaned, "I still don't understand why you're making me model in that pink, frou-frou, and lacy outfits. No way am I-!"

But Rarity wagged her hoof at her and spoke sweetly. "Nah uh ah! I saved you from losing your reputation back at the party and now you owe me." She cunningly plays with her mane a little and gave a subtle smirk at Rainbow Dash who looked trapped and finally rolled her eyes. "Fine…"

But Pinkie pushed the deal further. "Do you Pinkie promise that you'll come on time before tonight's fashion show?"

Rainbow lifted her head up to look at her friends and boasted, "Are you kidding me? I would never leave a pony hanging." With that said, she crossed her chest and placed her hoof on her eye before lying back down on the tree branch with her back towards them. As the rest of the mares turned to leave the park, Applejack said in relief, "Phew wee, and I thought I was gonna be the only athlete wearin' hoity-toity dresses."

I waited for the mares to exit out of the park and for Rainbow to enter into her deep slumber when two hoofs grabbed me by the arms and yanked me up into the tree. Before I could let out a yelp, a blue hoof cupped my mouth and the pony whispered in my ear, "It's just me, Bolt." Storm released his grip from me and I saw Sky Rocket retrieve the diary from the ground and landed on a branch. He looked deeply concerned about something while Storm began to fret, "This is bad, this is really, really bad…"

"Bad?" Sky bursts out in panic. "This is a disaster! I've just became an accessory of a crime that my best friend committed and it'll go on my permanent record! All my academic efforts spent on my reputation would be a waste… My life is ruined!" He buried his face in his hoofs in great distress as Storm shushed him to avoid waking up Rainbow from her nap.

Although feeling sorry for Sky to be in a dismal state, I pointed out, "See? Now you know how I feel after Rainbow flushed my rep down the drain." Sky picked his head up with sad eyes and shook his head. "I chose to be part of your schemes; I'm responsible for this… Oh man, my parents are going to kill me if they find out!" Storm grew more worried than ever after witnessing Sky, the most rational pony we know, panicking in the midst of our predicament and asked, "Are girls attracted to rebellious guys?"

I grabbed the diary from Sky's timid grip and tried to maintain order. "Guys chillax! I have a plan." The two stallions looked at me like I have two heads as I began to explain, "We execute bulletin #2. We're going to take away her friends."

Storm glanced perplexedly at Sky, who asked in a very irritable tone, "What gives you the idea that that will help us?"

"Rainbow Dash has Twilight and her friends gathering enough evidences to lock me up in jail… including you two. I say we make Rainbow look so bad in front of her friends that they will refuse to help her." I gave a winning smile at my friends and Storm jumped up from the branch, nodding his head vigorously, until Sky yanked his tail back down and raised an eyebrow at me. "Go on…"

I smirked at my own idea and slyly said, "Rarity wants Rainbow to model for her fashion show, right?" Then Storm Cloud began chuckling out loud before Sky cupped his mouth in order for Rainbow to not wake up. They both waited for me to explain further. "We can just simply not let her go to the fashion show and oh how her friends will hate her guts." I rubbed my hoofs together, praising inwardly of my ability to make a brilliant plot.

Storm again jumped from the branch in excitement until Sky shoved him back down onto the branch once more. "Wait, how exactly are we going to do that?"

I looked around the local park from the tree and spotted a small tool shelter for the park custodians, sitting next to the public bathroom building. I motioned my friends to fly with me towards the old tool shelter and allowed Sky to pick at the lock. The splinted wooden door creaked open and the light shone a sturdy rope, gardening soil bag, and an open ended water hose. Sky, comprehending my plan by the look of the items, slapped his hoof over his forehead and mumbled, "I can't believe we're doing this. Bolt are you sure this is a good idea?" Storm immediately grabbed the rope and hose while I emptied out the soil bag. After reaching for the scissor above the top shelf, I began cutting a hole in it. "Oh yeah…"

**I HOPE YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE TELL US WHAT YOU THINK OF IT!**

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	8. Chapter 8

**GET READY FOR AN ACTION PACKED ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME!**

**what are you waiting for? read it and weep!**

Firebolt

Chapter 8

"Easy there, Bolt! We don't want to wake her up." Sky whispered fearfully as I quietly perched onto the thick branch that Rainbow is napping on. The branch itself was strong enough to hold my weight, giving me the confidence to walking cautiously towards the snoozing pegasus. Her long rainbow tail nearly covered half of her flank while some of her unruly strands hung over the branch like silk.

At first, I wanted one of us to place the soil bag over her head while the rest of us wrapped the rope around her face into a halter and tie her wings up with the water hose. But Sky Rocket feared that three pegasus ponies have a more likely chance of waking her up than only one pegasus. Storm Cloud only pushed me to volunteer of capturing her; he didn't like the idea of tying up his own weather captain, let alone mess with a world class daredevil. Although I was unwilling to even be next to that female pegasus, some pony has to make a move.

At every step, my heart raced whenever she flicks her ear or pushes her face into her curled forelimbs. The rope coiling around my torso prickled my skin as I grabbed the ends of it with my teeth. The scorching heat from the sun hits the empty, paper soil bag that's hanging over my back; I could feel the sticky perspiration underneath the bag. After entering under the tree's shade, my back stopped burning as I approached Rainbow. Resting comfortably on her stomach by the tree trunk, Rainbow's back slowly rise up by every breath while the scattered sun rays, revealing the flying debris, poured down from the tree leaves and made her rainbow mane blaze vibrantly. Suddenly I was interrupted by a light touch on my leg by her tucked in elbow. She flicked her ear at the contact and shifted herself on her left side, deeply exhaling through her nose in a peaceful slumber.

_Come on Firebolt, focus! Just place the bag over her face._

Trying to maintain a steady breath, I released the rope from my teeth to pull out the crinkled paper bag. The subtle popping sound of the bag made me froze for a moment and I quickly checked to see if Rainbow had woke up; she didn't even move a muscle. Feeling relieved, I began to situate myself at an angle to where I can reach Rainbow's face without touching her. So I placed my left front hoof over her body to be next to her back and my left hind leg followed suit until a loud yawn made my fur stand. Without moving an inch, I watch Rainbow stretch out her hoofs and roll onto her back, facing me.

_Dang it! _

My conscience kept alerting me persistently as I'm literally standing over my nemesis in the most awkward position. Her front hoofs nearly touched my underbelly, reminding me of my belly's last contact with her hoofs while freefalling from Cloudsdale. Shaking off the agonizing images, I leaned in closer to her face with my teeth still tightly clenched onto the bag.

Just then I can feel some prying eyes behind me and a boyish voice whispered, "Psst! Bolt, what are you doing? Get off of her. Now is not the right time." Feeling warm around my cheeks, I turned to look at Storm hovering near the branch.

"Shut up Storm, I'm not doing anything," I whispered fiercely at him.

Then in a matter of seconds, I've realized my mistake; the paper bag fell onto Rainbow's face with a slap and she groggily thrust the bag off of her. Her eyes opened slightly and saw me on top of her.

"AHHHHH!" Our screams echoed throughout the park and awakened the birds to take flight.

Then a sharp kick into the gut made my body cave in as my abdomen throbbed in agony. Thank Celestia that she didn't kick me anywhere further down! Out of the corner of my eye she got into a fighting stance on the other side of the branch, her head lowered with her murderous eyes on me and snorting furiously.

"What were you trying to do to me, you animal?" She yelled, as Storm Cloud flew up from behind her and tried to wrap the hose around her wings before she instinctively kicked her hind legs into his face.

"OWW! That's not healthy…" Storm whimpered, his eyes watered as he covered his nose in pain. Then Sky Rocket grabbed onto her hind legs and hugged them together in which she lost her balance and started flying up into the air with him.

"She's getting away!" Sky shouted at me as I dropped the rope and fly up after her. With Sky dragging her down, Rainbow struggled to fly up higher and began kicking him off until I wrapped my arms around her from the back. Her mane slapped me across the face when she turned her head around to bite me hard in the shoulder. In excruciating pain, I let go of my hold and fell on top of Sky in which he released Rainbow's hoofs.

I hit the ground with Sky serving as my cushion in which he yowled in alarm. Storm Cloud was about to fly towards her before Rainbow gave him the evil eye and warned, "Don't you even dare make another move!"

At her subtle threat, Storm grew intimidated and descended onto the ground next to Sky Rocket. Not paying attention to the bite wound, I glared at Rainbow and hollered, "He won't, but I will!"

Launching myself after her, she quickly zoomed up into the sky. The wind whistled in my ears and a green blur painted my surroundings. The blue pegasus was gaining momentum, making greater distance away from me. She dodged through the trees and made a sharp left turn. A tree trunk nearly came in contact with my face until I flew up into the air. Hovering above the park, I spotted Rainbow darting around the trees and heading towards Ponyville, trailing off a riveting rainbow as she speeds. Following after her once more, I beat my wings harder and slowly gaining velocity as we zoomed into the bright colorful village. The citizens gasped from below as Rainbow looked back at me and suddenly zoomed down closer to the streets. She knocked down barrel after barrel of fruits in my direction. An apple splattered into my forehead and a banana nearly stabbed me in the eye. My head throbbing, she flew inside a window just ahead of us and we both skidded through the tile floor as we crashed into a wall.

Within the swirl of dust and flying debris, shrieks of panic sounded in the room by ponies wearing fancy formal attire. Rainbow jumped out of the wall and made a run to the window. I grabbed a piece of wall plaster and skid it across the floor. She tripped over it and smacked her face on the tile as I ran to lock her wings with my arms. She made a death roll and shoved me hard against the tile on my back. She pressed her hoofs into my arms, unleashing a severe pain as she growled, "How do ya like me now, Bolt!"

I spat at her, "A lot! 'Cause you taught me how to do this!" I kicked her hard in the gut with my hind legs and she hunched over in agony. I flipped myself up and blew my mane off my face. Her eyes flashing, the agitated pegasus charged into me and sent me flying out the window. I fell into the cabbage stand with a loud crash. Pain swept across my back as I opened my eyes slightly to see Rainbow hovering above me. She blew raspberries at me before zooming deeper into the village. A couple of earth ponies and unicorns offered assistance but I ruffled my wings and followed after the rainbow trail. Zipping through buildings, alleys and clothing lines, I saw her flying towards a police station.

_Oh no, chick! Not this time! _

She skidded across the dirt to a direct stop in front of a police officer at the parking lot and cried, "Help me officer! I'm being chased by a maniac!" She hid behind the stallion and pointed at me descending on the ground. Yet having another idea in mind, I trotted casually towards Rainbow to give a playful pat on the shoulder.

"Tag! You're It!" I shouted animatedly.

Rainbow was dismayed of my act as the police officer raised an eyebrow at the two of us and firmly asked, "Ma'am do you have proof that he's chasing after you?"

Smoothing out my mane and standing up tall, I intervened coolly, "Well actually officer, I was chasing after my friend, but she couldn't face the fact that I will win the game of tag. Right buddy?" I gave Rainbow a wink as she shook her head at me in irritation.

"Uh, do you even know who you're talking about? I always win—" She stopped herself, catching on to my plan of diversion, and faced the officer. "I mean, we're not playing tag. He's lying, officer. You gotta believe me! He's really onto me!"

Chuckling at her accusation, I walked next to her side and simply went with the flow. "Oh Rainbow of course I'm onto you. I'm It, remember? The game that we used to play since we were foals."

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at me and grumbled, "Yeah… but things had changed." The police officer looked like he was out of his element and stepped away from us to watch. Rainbow stood in her place and began to raise her tone at me. "You're out to get me to… well… something that I don't know about! But whatever it is, leave me alone!"

Feeding off of her passion, I began to raise my voice. "Don't you think that I've tried that already? It is you who have to go out and make a fool out of me in public!"

She stomped her hoof defiantly. "Good, I'm glad! You deserve it for leaving me alone in the past!"

Suddenly, the memories that I wanted to keep locked away from my consciousness came back. The familiar hurt and sorrow flooded my eyes. "What the hay, Rainbow! You wanted me to leave you alone!"

"Only because you did it first! I didn't want you to leave me alone before!" Her voice cracked at the end of her words and her lips began to tremble.

Amazed of her stupidity, I shouted at her, "I didn't want to leave you alone, but you FORCED me to!

"I had to! You were a traitor! All you cared about was your stupid-"

"I said I was sorry for Pete's sake! You're too freakin' hard-headed to lis-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE, BOLT!"

Suddenly a loud whistle rang in our ears and we looked at the police officer silently. My blood remained boiling at the heat of our conversation. The police officer interjected in slight impatience, "Okay, you two need to talk this problem out before accusing each other's wrongdoings. Now if you may excuse me…"

As the stallion began to walk past us, Rainbow jumped in front of him pleadingly, "But officer, what about my safety from that creature?"

The officer took a deep breath before scrutinizing me for a moment and said, "Ma'am, if safety is what you're concerned about, you have the right to file a restraining order against him for the cause of disturbing the peace. But whatever crime you're accusing him for, you must provide tangible evidence." With a dismissive nod, he began walking towards the donut shop across the street.

Rainbow tilted her ears back in frustration and mumbled to herself, "I need evidence… Gotta find Twilight." My anger simmered down a little as I muttered at her, "I'm not leaving without you."

She spun around to face me and walked towards me scowling, "What are you up to now, Bolt?"

I took a step closer to her. "Sweet vengeance…"

"For what?" She growled, leaning her face close to mine as I replied slowly through gritted teeth. "You gave away my secret fear to the public. And because of you, my lifelong reputation has been ruined."

She huffed at my answer and spat, "Well suck it up buttercup 'cause there's nothing you can do to tear me down!"

I butted my head against hers and grumbled, "I didn't think you would be this naïve, Rainbow Dash. But if that's the case, you better pick up the pace."

She didn't retaliate at our physical contact but kept her cold stare at me while mumbling in a low tone, "I'm not afraid of you."

"Better learn." I threatened.

Suddenly a sharp blow into my collarbone broke my stance and I clutched onto the painful area as Rainbow shouted, "MAKE ME!"

She made a head start out of the parking lot and zoomed towards the outskirts of Ponyville. Ignoring the tender sore below my neck, I flew after her. We zipped across the green valley and entered through a treacherous forest. Immediately the twigs and bristles cut me all over as Rainbow dodged through thick tree branches and into dangling foliage. The leaves slapping my cheeks as I pump my wings faster towards the tips of her tail. To my surprise, she made a back flip and flew out of my line of vision. I came to a halt above air and looked around the forest for her blue coat and rainbow mane. Then my ears picked up some leaves rustling on my right. A rainbow blur whizzed out of the leaves and already exited out of the forest into the bright light. To make up for lost time, I pulled a thin tree down onto the ground by the tip and situated myself on top of it. Then upon letting go of my strength, the tree swung up abruptly and I zoomed through the forest like a bullet and into the bright light. My head pounded at the light's intensity until my eyes quickly adjusted. I finally have her now; reaching out for her rainbow tail. I could taste the saltiness on my lips. My heart pumping with the adrenaline. She's getting tired but I'm still in my game; my endurance is much stronger than hers.

She's slowing down and turned to see me nearly touching her tail with my hoof. She then pumped her wings hard and thrust herself up towards the sun. I followed suit, but after awhile the sun burned my eyes and I shut them for a moment before opening to see Rainbow Dash bomb diving right into me. The sharp collision left me breathless. She wrapped her arms around me as the ground rapidly comes closer and closer behind me. By instinct, I pushed her below me before we crashed into the ground, the rocky dirt splashing around us. The world turned all around us as we tumbled over the dirt. The gravel scraping the side of my body, leaving red rash marks. Recovering from the impact, my arms were latched around her back. She groaned a little and was about to raise her head up when I quickly lock her arms behind her back and pressed my full weight on her. Her eyes widened at my hold on her and yelled, "Get off of me, Bolt! You're crazy!"

"Give up Rainbow; I win." I sneered.

Suddenly she swung her head above my face and pulled down on my mane. Being caught off guard, my body was swung over off her back and I landed with a loud thud on the ground. Slightly dazed, my stomach got crushed under her hoofs as she flew back up into the sky.

_Man, she's relentless!_

Wincing at the pain in my gut, I struggled to lift myself up and saw her flying towards the town hall of Ponyville where a stage is being set up for a fashion show. Looking for a way to reach Rainbow at a long distance, I hovered up into the nearest tree branch and pushed myself against it to slingshot after Rainbow in top speed. The sides of my gums pulled back against the strong force of the wind and Rainbow is getting closer and closer once again. She must've heard me coming because she made a double take and dived down for me to zip over her and crash into the lamppost. The loud gong rang in my ears and I fell onto shallow water with a wet plop by the stoned bridge. The lukewarm water drenched my coat and mane as Rainbow zoomed over me and made her way towards Twilight who's walking on stage from a further distance.

_No! She's getting away! _

But to my surprise, a white light flashed into Rainbow's eyes and she ducked her head for a moment.

"Now Storm!" A male voice cried out and the freckled pegasus shoved a dark grey cloud in front of her and she crashed into it with a loud poof. Her motionless body began to fall as I got up the strength to catch her before she hits the ground. She dropped onto my back and the heavy weight smacked me down onto the ground. Panting for air in the midst of swirling dust, I sneezed and the bridge of my nose stings with soreness in which something warm started sliding down my muzzle. I felt Rainbow slowly shifting on my back, groaning from the blow. Sky Rocket dropped his saddlebag next to me and pulled out a duct tape for me to use. I ripped it out with my bare teeth and turned over on my back to face Rainbow.

Rainbow cried out weakly, "Twi—" but I slapped the duct tape on her mouth and slammed her down onto the ground before she could pummel me with her bare hoofs. Storm and Sky Rocket helped me drag her behind the corner of the building. I looked back around the corner to see the stage from a far distance. Twilight remained occupied in checking off a list in preparation while Rarity pulled out Applejack who's wearing a pink, lacy dress. Relieved that Twilight didn't hear Rainbow, I looked back at her, whose wings are being strapped by Storm Cloud with the water hose and face being tied up into Sky's rope halter. Then Rainbow began kicking her hoofs in all directions, her voice muffling under the duct tape. I flew over her and slammed myself on top of her onto the ground.

Sky became very shocked of my brutality. "Firebolt take it easy on her. She's a mare for crying out loud."

She kept jerking her head from the halter but I tightened it and pressed my hoofs on top of hers. I muttered, "Look at us, Sky. We've been everything but gentle and meek."

Rainbow snorted ferociously and nearly hit her head into my face if I hadn't blocked it with my arm. Sky Rocket still remained shocked and shook his head slowly at the situation. He grew quiet as if in doubt and checked behind the corner of the building at Twilight and then tucked his ears down sadly.

_Great… we're gonna have another guy talk._

Storm played with the rope hanging on Rainbow's rope halter and scanned at our rugged appearance, covered in dirt, scratches, and bruises. "Aw will you look at that; matching wounds. You two look like a radical couple."

I glared at Storm for his comment and noticed that Rainbow stopped squirming underneath me to glare at him with much more ferocity. After adjusting some loose ends on Rainbow's restraints, I grabbed onto the rope and pulled her out of Ponyville. The beginning of the walk grew treacherous as Rainbow kept jerking and kicking wildly at the restraints, making loud muffling noises.

Storm asked, "Should we take the tape off so we can hear what she's saying?"

Sky shook his head. "Not right now, Storm. For all I know, she could be cursing the heavens with her colorful vocabulary."

Rainbow stared down at Sky angrily and continued to pull the rope in the other direction as I became very irritated and yanked her rope hard for her to look at me. After staring her down, her snorting became more frequent as her eyes locked into mine, expressing the same intensity. My tone was slow and stern. "Quit your nonsense. As long as I have the rope, you're going to do things my way." I tightened her halter with a firm pull on the rope. "And only my way. Do I make myself clear?"

She didn't make any sign of apprehension or hesitancy, but her breathing grew softer and less frequent while maintaining her bitter stare at me. Then I asked Sky to give me the soil bag to push it up from her muzzle to her neck, the hole at the end of the bag served as her breathing hole. She didn't move a single muscle but the constant flicking of the tail shows her deep irritation. I gently pulled the rope and she began walking with obvious lack of enthusiasm.

The open, clear sky begins to glow a light pink with a hint of violet hue. The sun sets into a dark orange, making the trees appear darker against the sky's stark contrasting glow. A cool humid breeze softly blew my mane and fur and the aroma of the incoming night drifts into the dry air. As time trudges by, the sores in my muscle ached unceasingly and exhaustion swept over every ounce of my body and state of mind.

I could almost not hear Sky grumbling, "I'm assuming that you don't have a place in mind where we can spend the night." I stopped walking for a moment in which I felt a gentle nudge behind me as Rainbow collided against me. After checking up on her, she seemed to walk unsteadily; her body shook occasionally and she kept dragging her hoof on the dirt with her head hung low. Upon closer view of her rugged appearance, a subtle dark bruise covered her left shoulder, possibly from hitting the ground from her dive-bombing attempt.

Sky continued to look at me in an unimpressed manner as he waits for my response. I raised an eyebrow at his unexpected demeanor and replied, "Well I hadn't thought about that yet. I kinda blurted out my plan at the spur of the moment."

Sky sighed and stopped in his tracks to clean his glasses while asking, "Bolt, don't you think that we're going too far with your plan?" I grew annoyed at his question and simply replied, "I'm not up for your moral lectures, Sky."

Meanwhile Storm was kicking rocks on the dirt path and finally complained, "I'm so bored. Where are we going anyway?" He hovered up into the air and looked around the dark green valley until he saw something interesting and exclaimed, "Hey I see a building from up here."

Sky rolled his eyes and remarked, "Of course Storm Cloud, every pegasus can see a building from up there."

"No duh, Sherlock!" Storm retorted, "I meant that there's an abandoned barn hidden within the trees. We can spend the night there."

Feeling hopeful again, I pulled Rainbow with me as we all walked into the woods. Our hoofs crunched the dry leaves on the dirt path as the forest echoed with the crickets' chirping songs. The towering trees cover the dusk sky, casting a dark shadow over us. As we ventured deep into the forest, the utter darkness became more unbearable. Suddenly I felt something warm and furry bumped into my shoulder and let out a yelp, which the thing gripped onto my arm tightly and a familiar voice sounded, "Oh sorry, Bolt. Mind if I hang in here?"

My heart was racing as I tried to calm myself and scolded at Storm, "Gosh man, don't ever do that again!"

Then I heard someone rummaging through a bag and Sky's voice sounded in the pitch darkness. "Hold up guys, I'm going to make some light."

I asked in disbelief, "How are you going to do that? We can't see a thing."

Then I heard a light scratch from a distance and a lighted match appeared on Sky's hoof. He lifted it up high for all of us to see. Then from the corner of my eye, I jumped in horror at the sight of a pony whose face is covered with a grey bag and Storm shouted in surprise, "THE HEADLESS HORSE! Everybody run for your lives!"

After regaining my composure, I punched Storm's shoulder and said, "It's just Rainbow Dash." I looked at my female prisoner for a minute and decided to take the bag off of her face. Rainbow shook her mane and let out a deep breath through her nose before looking around her new environment. She then flattened her ears in fear and was about to look at me with widened eyes but quickly looked away from me with scorn. Sky Rocket lead the way with the light until we stopped at a white entrance to an apple grove with the sign above us reading "Sweet Apple Acres." Rainbow saw the sign and her eyes lit up but shielded her face from me with her arm after noticing that I was watching her. I asked with suspicion, "Do you know this place?"

She looked up at me with narrowed eyes and lifted her nose up with a huff. I was about to interrogate when Storm exclaimed, "Yes we're almost there! Come on let's fly."

He hovered into the air when Sky grabbed him by the tail with his mouth and mumbled, "We can't. Rainbow Dash is keeping Firebolt grounded. We'll just have to walk there."

After walking past the grove of apple trees, Storm flew up a hill where the barn is located and tried to push open the door with little success. I told him to fly into the barn window above the roof so he could unlock the door from behind and we waited for him until the door creaked open. Storm motioned us in, enthused of the fact that he found shelter for us in the nick of time. Sky Rocket lit up a lantern on the wooden wall post and placed it in the back of the barn that's stored with dry haystack. I locked the barn door behind us and lead Rainbow to a wooden wall post and tied the ends of the rope up high, just out of her reach. She watched me with irritation after I've tightened the knot and landed on the ground right in front of her. "I'm gonna take the duct tape off your mouth if you agree to answer few of my questions. Deal?"

Rainbow eyed me for a while until she finally nodded. I leaned in close to her mouth, feeling her breath on my muzzle, and grabbed the tips of the duct tape with my teeth to rip it off. She let out a surprised yelp and spit out the taste out of her tongue. She finally spoke out in a hoarse tone, "You're never going to get away with this."

I kept my tone even, "I didn't take this off just to hear your comment." Keeping a distance between us, I circled around her in interrogation. "Have you been here before?"

She answered grudgingly, "Yes."

"Do you know someone who owns this place?"

She kept silent and walked towards the wall post and leaned her head against it, her eyes made contact with mine. She then asked, "What are you gonna do if I tell you the person's name?"

I gave a light shrug and leaned against the haystack next to her. "It all depends. Is the person a friend of yours or not?"

She rigidly asked, "Will you chicken out and leave this place if I give you the wrong answer?"

I chuckled at her question and replied, "No, because either way I'll still succeed in making you break your Pinkie promise to your friends."

Rainbow's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"You heard me." I gave a smirk at her.

She began to shake her head in despair, her eyes threatened to tear as she shouted, "Firebolt, you stupid jerk! Let me go!" She tried to climb on the wall post to untie herself but kept sliding back down, making her grow into more frustration. She punched the wall post with her fist and began pacing around frantically. "Oh no, I can't miss the fashion show. My friends will not forgive me. They'll NEVER forgive me! Bolt, please let me go! I promised! APPLEJACK, HELP ME!"

Although knowing that her friend is at the fashion show, I quickly stuffed the duct tape back on Rainbow's mouth so no pony could hear her. She then placed both of her hoofs on her mouth to get the duct tape off, but failing in each attempt. As she struggled with all her might, I glanced behind me to see Storm and Sky mortified upon witnessing the scene and slowly growing ashamed.

This isn't what I was hoping for. I was expecting to experience some sense of accomplishment, a burden being lifted off from my shoulders, a peaceful feeling that will make Rainbow's insults and harsh judgments against me vanish. I wanted to show her what it feels like to lose everything that gives her pride, sense of worth, and self-respect. She destroyed my reputation, so likewise, I'll destroy her friendship; the very thing that gives her a sense of importance.

_Then… why do I feel sorry for her… _

**fun question! yeay!**

**who are you rooting for? rainbow dash? or firebolt? please tell us!**


	9. Chapter 9

**sorry for the long wait, we've been busy, but we finnally completed it! its nice and long, so this may quench your guys's in satable thirst for words!**

**enjoy...**

Firebolt

Chapter 9

In every agonizing second, I feel like the only stallion hearing Rainbow sobbing softly behind the wooden post to which I've tied her onto earlier. In front of me, the lantern served as our only light which could barely light up less than half of the barn. Lying on my stomach, I've stared at the diary and the list of bulletins displayed before me on the warm, soft dirt until my eyes strained. They had used to be my only hope to ease my screaming conscience by reminding me of my just reason in making her life miserable. But like the fire that's burning inside the lantern, so does the irresistible guilt burning within me. My fists tightened at the thought of it. Why can't I shake this off? Rainbow Dash should be sorry for what she did to me!

_Get a hold of yourself, Bolt! This is only temporary. You'll get your payback sooner or later. _

Feeling the urge to move, I stood up to pace around the room within the dimly lighted circle, kicking the dirt below my hooves carelessly. Sky Rocket remained silent in the dark corner of the barn, lying on his stomach with his back towards me. Awhile ago, he made it clear that he was not interested into conversing with me. And knowing that he prefers to keep his distance away from other ponies whenever he's in a cruddy mood, I respected his wishes. Yet despite of the distance, I could still sense him deeply meditating, possibly about my sanity, as he toyed with a piece of hay strand.

Storm Cloud made it too obvious that we're not the only stallions feeling the heavy weight of our actions. He kept walking around in circles and constantly checking up on Rainbow, who quickly wiped her tears away with her arm and looked away from him crossly each time. With an anxious sigh, he relentlessly began yapping, "This doesn't feel right. Oh man… not at all. I mean, what creature would want to tie up an innocent mare against her will?"

His question struck a chord in me. "Hey! I'm not a creature! And Rainbow is far from being innocent!"

Startled, Storm fumbled over his words. "Wha-? I didn't say you were. I was just speaking hypothetically!"

" Yeah whatever! Just keep your mouth shut 'cause I don't wanna hear it!" I snapped.

Suddenly Sky's grave voice echoed from the pitch black shadows, his black silhouette rising from the corner. "Actually, that is quite the contrary." He turned to walk into the light wearing a very grim expression and flicked off the hay strand. "It's time to face reality, Bolt. What you did to Rainbow Dash was immoral."

Amongst the silence, Rainbow grew quiet and I can feel her eyes settling on me from behind while Storm perked his ears up attentively after crossing his arms at my rude remark. Sky stopped a few feet away from me, maintaining his cold stare, as I challenged, "Yeah so…"

Sky shifted his stance a little and looked down at the ground as if trying to find the right words that will not provoke a futile argument. "Remember back at the hospital that I wanted you to just ignore Rainbow?"

I snorted in annoyance and turned to walk away from the conversation. "I was expecting a straightforward answer, not another one of your moral lectures!"

"Will you just listen to me for one minute?" Sky became exasperated. "I'm trying to get you to think rationally here. You don't think it's insanity that you've kidnapped Rainbow and placed her under hostage?"

"It's not insanity if I'm trying to teach her of who she shouldn't mess with." I retorted at him and shot an infuriated glance at Rainbow who flattened her ears and narrowed her eyes at me. I bet she wouldn't dare to show any sign of surrender towards me, even if her left shoulder is bruised, her mouth taped shut, and her cheeks stained with tears.

Sky replied irritably, "Tying her up like an animal and forcing her to break a… er, Pinkie promise is insanity!"

"No! Doing nothing while Rainbow makes a fool out of me is insanity!" Then taking Sky's comment into thought, I approached Rainbow while she remained still in her place, slowly watching my every move. "And besides," I taunted, placing my hoof under her chin. "She is an animal; wild and without a soul." And just as quick as her eyes flashed with hostility, so did she reared up and punched me in the face.

My eyes watered at the intense pain in my jaw, yet I could still see Rainbow pretending to blow her hoof like her lethal weapon and smoothed back her mane with self-confidence. Storm's eyes widened in shock and he fell on his back cackling hysterically before regaining his breath. "Oh man, now that's karma!"

As he wiped a tear from his eye, I flew up into his face in a matter of a split second. "OH! You think that's funny huh?! Well why don't you laugh in my face!" Then after a brief pause, he did just that. My blood beginning to boil profusely, I cut his laughter short with a hard shove in his chest, strong enough to send him tripping over a haystack and land on his back. He made a low groan when I hovered over him and shouted, "Ha! Now who gets the final laugh?!"

"That's enough, Firebolt!" Sky cried out, "You've been vengeful for far too long!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "What are you talking about? It's only been a day."

"ALL day!" Storm pointed out while getting back on his fours and climb on top of the haystack. "You seriously need to let go of this hatred and get a hobby! Or better yet, go to a shrink!"

"I'm fine you guys!" I raised my voice. "I know what I'm doing. And whatever consequence that will come out of this, I can take full responsibility."

"Oh really?!" Sky exclaimed in sarcasm, "Are you well aware that you'll be responsible of harming yourself, Rainbow Dash, and other ponies that became involved in your revenge?!"

"'Other ponies'? Ah, I see where you're going with this…" I faced Sky Rocket and walked towards him. "You want me to stop seeking vengeance against Rainbow Dash so you can run back to Twilight!"

Sky held his breath at my accusation, turning bright red on his cheeks, and darted his eyes from me to Rainbow who cocked an eyebrow at him suspiciously. Then Storm began to take note of Sky's body language and spoke uneasily, "Uh… Firebolt."

But I continued, "And when you two are finally reunited, you will wanna play tea party with her!" I raised my tone into a girly voice while clapping my hoofs for emphasis.

Then Sky narrowed his eyes at me and his body slightly shook from holding in his building tension. "Bolt, stop it this instant. I assure you that that is far beyond my main intention."

"Yeah I know what you mean," I persisted, "Playing tea party with her wouldn't be enough. After all, you can do sooo much more with her that will specifically satisfy your stallion needs." I smoothed my mane back slowly and winked.

Upon catching my hidden hint, Rainbow made a loud growl at us from underneath the duct tape and began to trample the rope beneath her hoofs.

Sky shut his eyes tightly and struggled to swallow down the building stress within him in which Storm quickly recognized and grew worried. "Firebolt, quit teasing him!"

"Stop your brazen foolishness!" Sky began to grit his teeth.

I gaped incredulously. "Foolishness?! How am I being foolish?! Huh? Tell me!"

"Firebolt! Don't—!" Storm tried to butt in but all chaos had broken loose.

To my great astonishment, Sky flashed his eyes open in indignation and lashed out, "YOU ARE THE MOST BITTER, DELUDED, AND CONCEITED STALLION I'VE EVER ASSOCIATED MYSELF WITH!"

His outburst loudly echoed around the silent, vast darkness and nearly stunned every one of my nerves from making my next reaction. Snorting furiously, Sky had his wings spread out and his glasses lay crookedly above the bridge of his nose; his teeth bearing out openly and the vein above his forehead popping out. After gathering up my wits, the overwhelming offense of Sky's accusation ignites me greatly and I threatened, "Say that to my face one more time! Oh so help me Celestia I'm gonna-!"

"DO WHAT?! TIE ME UP TOO! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO HURT SOMEONE WHENEVER YOU FEEL THREATENED?!" Sky spat harshly.

In blinded fury, I shoved him hard against the wall and seethed, "DO I LOOK THREATENED TO YOU?!" Sky's blue eyes instantly widened into fear before I felt a body rammed into me. After nearly lost my footing, I looked up to see Storm glaring at me while breathing heavily. "What has gotten into you, Bolt?! We're your friends!"

"Well some friend he is," I protested while shooting a scowling glance at Sky, "He must've forgotten that he helped me commit this 'immoral' deed in the first place!"

Regaining his fury, Sky spat at me over Storm's shoulder, "YOU'RE RIGHT, BOLT! FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME, YOU'RE RIGHT! I'm a FOOL to take heed to your biased logic in attacking Rainbow Dash and all because SHE DESTROYED YOUR PRECIOUS REP!" He exaggerated the last few words with great abhorrence.

Infuriated, I flew over Storm's head and was all up in Sky's face and sneered, "Oh so you're on her side now?!"

Then Storm pushed himself in between us once more with both of his hoofs. "COOL IT, YOU TWO! BREAK IT OFF!"

But Sky didn't relent. "YOU KNOW WHAT? I'LL TAKE YOU UP ON THAT IDEA, CONSIDERING OF THE RATE YOU'RE GOING!"

"AND WHAT RATE AM I GOING, YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS BASTARD?!" I snapped, pushing Storm aside to lay my hoofs on Sky's skinny neck, but was rewarded with another hard shove from the freckled pegasus as he scolded, "STOP IT, BOLT! YOU'RE INSANE!" Without taking his glowering eyes off of me, Storm rubbed his nose with a sniff and backed away from me next to Sky's side.

At this point, Sky Rocket shook his head in shame, probably realizing the consequence of his explosive rage, and finally spoke in a lowered volume but with more bitterness etched into his tone, "I find your judgment against Rainbow Dash absolutely despicable. There's only one way to solve this." On that note, he trotted past me and reached into his saddlebag to pull out a pocket sized item. A sleek blade popped out of the handle, glinting in the light before me.

"Wait whoa, w-what are you doing?" I asked worriedly, my rage quickly depleted.

"Something I should've done back at Ponyville." He placed the handle in between his teeth and strode over to Rainbow who backed away from him with her wide eyes on the blade. She made a slight muffle when Sky grabbed her halter and placed the blade on one section of the rope.

"SKY, NO!" I jumped at him as fast as lightning and we crashed into a pile of haystack. With the dry hay scratching every sides of my body, I struggled to pull myself out of its maze and noticed that Sky was no longer holding the pocket knife or wearing his glasses. Then I felt myself being pulled out by my tail and my arms wrapped behind me in a lock. I looked back to see Storm restraining me while Rainbow watched us in sheer bewilderment. Sky was too busy blindly searching for his glasses in the hay pile to see Rainbow pick up his pocketknife and began cutting away the rope section close to her halter. Thinking fast, I hit Storm's lower jaw with the back of my head, causing him to loosen his grip by the painful impact. I rolled over and kicked him in the gut with my hind legs. Storm gave a loud whimper, wrapping his stomach tightly with his wings, allowing me enough time to stand up and shove him against Rainbow in which she dropped the pocket knife onto the ground by surprise. I snatched the pocket knife and flew up to the barn's upper floor where I flung it out through the small window and into the black, dense groves of apple trees.

I exhaled in relief and leaned against the side of the windowsill with my arms crossed as Sky flew up beside me to look out the window, despair written all over his face. I rest my head against the wall and spoke with coolness, "As a good friend, I advise you to not leave the barn unless you wanna get caught by the Elements of Harmony and the pegasi cops."

Despite of his brick red coat, the moonlight casts a bluish hue over his face, heightening the intensity of his crystal blue eyes. After a brief moment, Sky gave a melancholy sigh and began to rub his temples before facing me in a dispirited demeanor. "Good friend, huh?" He swallowed a lump in his throat and slightly choked, "I didn't want to believe it for so long… but this is enough evidence for me to conclude. Once a bully; will always be one!"

His words felt like a slap in the face as he pushed up his glasses and glided down onto the first floor to grab his saddlebag, leaving the bulletins and the diary behind. As soon as I landed back down on the ground, I saw Rainbow ran up to Sky but was jolted back by the rope. She muffled loudly at him with her ears tucked back in a begging manner but he continued walking sulkily towards the door. Then without lifting his head up, Sky stopped in his steps and asked, "Are you coming, Storm?"

Storm looked trapped and shook his head. "There's no way that I'm gonna choose between you and Bolt! We're supposed to stick with each other through thick and thin!

"It's ok, Storm." I tried to encourage with more strength in my tone, but it only came out dead. "Just leave with him." My whole body felt heavy and I dragged my hoofs across the dirt towards the lantern's glowing circle. There's no use in hurting my friends even more than I already had. From now on, I'll finish the second bulletin on my own.

By the corner of my eye, Storm's eyes began to well up and he stomped his way towards Sky. But Rainbow Dash began to loudly muffle for Storm's attention and he stopped in his tracks. As he looked at his weather captain, he then glanced back at me with a sudden thought and cocked his head to the side. "Hold the phone, you seriously expect us to leave you here… alone with Rainbow Dash?" He emphasized the last three words. I must've looked completely baffled because he then gave a smirk at Sky who also stood in confusion and boldly clarified, "A stallion and a mare… alone inside a barn at night. What kind of setting are we trying to set up for these two?"

As quickly as Sky realized the hidden message, I felt the warmth above my cheeks and looked at Rainbow who, after meeting my gaze, began pounding her hoof on the ground and trying to rip the tape off.

Putting my game face back on, I walked up to her and swiftly ripped the duct tape off, causing her to lick her lips for a bit. She appeared to be shaken by Storm's comment and exclaimed, "Omigosh, Storm! You're so gross! Don't leave me here with this hot-head!" She pulled on the rope with all her might, her hind hoofs burying deep into the dirt.

"Why not?" Sky rolled his eyes. "Maybe he'll learn how to care for some ponies other than his popularity."

Rainbow replied through gritted teeth in still pulling the rope, "At any other given day, I would've agreed with you on that, but now is not the time!" Seeing that she couldn't escape from her bondage, she stopped to breathe and gave me a disgusted look.

"Quit looking at me like that." I growled at her.

"No! I'm gonna keep looking at you like that until you tell me why you've brought me and my friends into your guys' drama!" She then looked at Sky and her harsh expression slowly softened towards him. "You know, I was gonna tell Twilight of how much of a fraud you are, but what you said and did to this maniac," She pointed at me. "You may not be such a bad guy after all." She placed her hoof under her chin. "Hm, I guess there is more to you than just your 'oh so eloquent vocabulary' or whatever how Twilight puts it."

Then as if a dark cloud had cleared away from over his head, Sky's eyes lit up in hope and asked, "She said that I have eloquent vocabulary?"

Rainbow smoothed out her mane coolly at Sky's naïve question. "Uh duh! She totally got the hots for you!" She suddenly paused in thought for a moment and then smirked as she slowly walked away from Sky. "And I know a way for you to save your chance from screwing up with your first crush… and that is," She leaned her back against the wooden post with her hoof resting on her hip and the other fiddling with the rope. "Rescue the Element of Loyalty! Heh heh, you want to win her heart, do you?"

"That's enough, Rainbow! Quit trying to cheat your way out of this by manipulating my friends!" I butted in.

"Oh! You mean like how you got Pinkie Pie to pour hot sauce in my soda?! Or made Rarity act overly dramatic about you?! Or Fluttershy to side with you?!" Rainbow snapped back.

Storm exclaimed, "See, I was gonna tell you about that, Bolt! After watching Rarity weeping on the park bench, my heart was broken for her. If only I could just swooped down to—!"

"Wait a minute! How did you see Rarity at the park?" Rainbow asked suspiciously and quickly turned to me in shock. "WERE YOU STALKING ME?!"

"Ugh! Why on earth would I want to stalk you?! You're the last pony that I want to see! And besides, you and your friends just happened to show up at the park… while I was reading your diary." I added smugly with my torso sticking out as Rainbow charged at me in reaching for my neck with the rope pulling her back. "I got a message for you that I wanted to write in my diary! Untie me now so I can share it with you outside!"

Then Storm cried, "Hey Rainbow I have a great idea! I'll help you go after Firebolt if you can hook me up with Rarity!" All of our attention went to Storm as he threw up his hoofs in defense. "What?! Oh come on, I can't help it that she's got the finest piece of-!"

"Storm Cloud!" Sky and I shouted.

He jumped at the volume of our voices and crossed his arms in annoyance. "I was gonna say flanks. How come Sky gets to have Rainbow's approval to hook up with Twilight?"

"How about this, Storm?!" Rainbow replied irritably, "Untie me now or you're fired from my weather team!"

Storm shuddered and gave me a pleading glance. "Can we let her go now?"

Then Sky lowered his ears in disappointment and shot an evil eye at me. "We can't because our 'good friend' here threw away my pocket knife into the pitch black groves. And without it, I can't cut off Rainbow's rope halter."

"Well we can try to untie the knot above Rainbow." Storm added while tapping his hoof on his chin.

"But Firebolt will tackle us if we do," Sky pointed out, "Unless we untie her wings so she could fly up there and untie the knot herself, leaving us to restrain Firebolt in the process."

"Oh yeah…" I cut in sarcastically, "And without me knowing every single detail of you guys rescuing the damsel in distress, she can fly away and get Twilight to lock us up in jail. You want that?!" I glared at the two stallions who pulled their ears back in submission while Rainbow growled at me. "How long are you gonna keep me in here, Bolt?"

"After your friend's fashion show is over." I stated matter of factly.

"What time is it?!" She asked anxiously and Sky dropped his saddlebag to rummage through it and pulled out his compact pocket watch. "It's a quarter till ten."

Rainbow sighed in disappointment before replying angrily at me. "There! The fashion show is over and my friends will hate me! Now let me go!"

Just then I had another idea in mind and placed my hoof over my chin for dramatic effect. "Hmm… I don't know. There is one thing that keeps bugging me."

Rainbow let out an irritated groan and she stormed towards the wooden post to lean against it with her arms crossed. "You can't keep me here forever, Bolt!"

I rolled my eyes. "Well obviously, eventually that cowgirl of yours is going to find you here."

"Hey, Applejack is not just some cowgirl! If she finds out that you're behind this, she'll whip you so hard that you won't be able to sit down for a week!" She defended.

I slapped the duct tape back on her mouth and shushed her. "Look, I can't think with a loudmouth brat like you yapping so much. Now be a good little filly and I may cut you some slack. Understand?"

Rainbow's eyes only grew darker and she made no sudden movement until I was assured that she'll remain quiet. I ripped the tape off once again and this time she didn't even flinch, but continued to penetrate me with her sharp menacing eyes.

"I'll let you go if you don't press charges against me for breaking and entering your home and stealing this." I lift up her diary in front of her and she lunged forward in trying to reach for it. "Give it back!" She shouted as I pulled it away from her reach in protest. "Sorry Rainbow, but I can't let you have it until you agree with our deal."

"No deal?! Twilight and I will put you behind bars in a snap! And if we have to do this the hard way, then so be it!" She turned her back towards me and crossed her arms with a huff.

I gave a dramatic sigh and walked up close to her side tauntingly. "Dang it and I didn't even tell you what I wanted next. Fine, then I guess we'll have to spend the night here… alone…" I made a side glance at my friends who had been quietly watching us and leaned into Rainbow's ear to whisper, "Inside the barn… alone together."

And just as I expected, not only did Rainbow roughly pushed me away from her but also looked slightly worried of the situation she's in.

Attempting to exit through the barn doors, Sky spoke tiredly, "I just don't see how you two can hate each other so much that we would come to this mess."

Rainbow then perked her ears up at Sky's comment and as if having formed a plan in mind, she faced me with a hint of challenge. "Alright Bolt, we'll play your little game." Her cheeks pulled into a sly smile as she began crouching towards me with a daring glint in her eyes. "But I'm gonna play it my way."

I chuckled to myself in disbelief. "And you're gonna do that while you're tied up."

"Well I did tell you to untie me earlier but you weren't stallion enough to do it." Her comeback provoked huge fits of chortling from my friends in which Sky seemed to lighten up a bit from his gloomy demeanor.

Feeling my dignity shot down, I frowned upon her as she walked smugly back to the wooden post and placed both arms behind her head to rest against it. "I don't know about you guys but watching a bunch of colts fighting inside a barn had gotten pretty old. I say we have some fun."

Storm nodded his head in agreement vigorously as Rainbow said in what sounded like a tease, "Since we're gonna stay here all night." She winked mockingly at me. "I'm down for some storytelling. And I already got one in mind."

"Are you gonna tell us a ghost story?" Storm asked with genuine interest.

"Ah… yes and no. Actually this story is about a certain pony that I once knew who became the ghost of our friendship." Rainbow glanced at me as her reference and started to walk towards my right side as if presenting me in front of my friends like a clueless dummy in a magic show. It's when the lantern's light orange glow flashed her rainbow colored lightning bolt cutie mark that I began to take notice of her physique. She had kept her small, sleek body toned down by her workouts and perhaps numerous of failed attempts at beating world records.

"Uh, what are you looking at?" Rainbow's voice interrupted my focus and I quickly looked away from her, feeling a shiver running down through my nerves.

"Nothing!" I lied while keeping a straight face, hoping that she's won't get the wrong idea of my questionable behavior. I could feel her eyes scrutinizing my face on my right side… long enough for Storm to blurt out, "Oh wow Rainbow, are you blind? He was totally checking you out!"

She looked at Storm perplexedly. "What?"

"Uh, he didn't say anything!" I fumbled, hiding my sheer embarrassment from Rainbow's gaze. "Only crap since he talks like a butt sometimes." Then I shot Storm a scowl. "Go suck some apples because your stupidity reeks!"

Storm shook his head at me with a smirk, knowing my hidden intentions of covering up my shame, but then looked upward in thought and gave a huge grin. "Speaking of apples, I am famished. I'll go fetch some for ya'll." He spoke with a forced country accent and trotted out the door, into the dark groves. After watching Storm exiting out, Sky glanced back at me knowingly and chuckled modestly to himself. "Wow… we didn't expect that one coming, didn't we Rainbow?"

I sneaked a cautious look at the cyan pegasus who rubbed the back of her head with her gaze towards the ground. "Uh… the word 'awkward' comes to mind…"

"Ah heh heh…" I chuckled nervously, "Storm is very hyperactive at night so he tends to see things that aren't really there. Kinda like he has tons of thoughts racing around his brain all at once, which can easily cloud up his perception."

She glanced back at me like I'm an idiot and said, "After working with Storm for only a season, the kid may be lazy but he got eyes to uh… body language." With that said, she continued to walk around and surprised me with a careless slap across my face with her soft tail. She then proclaimed coolly, "Anyway… I'm thinking that you've never told your friends about how we've parted ways."

I replied with poise, "Actually Rainbow, they already know how we've parted ways… one of us couldn't see eye to eye… end of story."

She completed her circle on my left side and met my gaze in which I was taken aback by how the lantern's glow had enhanced the vividness of her magenta colored eyes. Breathtaking, I hate to admit. Why does my enemy have to look so hot in a tomboyish way? My heart almost began racing until I looked away from her, reprimanding myself to stop staring at her. But her abrupt voice forced me to return my attention back to her. "Ha you're funny, but they'll be more interested in hearing my side of the story."

Making himself more comfortable by lying on his stomach, Sky focused his attention on Rainbow with genuine curiosity while she scanned me from top to bottom before giving me a daring grin. "This is gonna be a long story. Here, let me help you relax."

On that note, she yanked the rope hard with her teeth and I was surprised of my legs tightening together and my whole body flipped over onto my side. My head smashed into the dirt and I could feel the rope dangling in between my legs from which Rainbow quickly wrapped the rope around my neck and pulled it into a noose. She sat on my back with the knot in one of her hoofs and, with her other hoof, pulled my head up by the mane to meet my line of vision. "FYI, I've wanted to do this for the longest." She taunted before releasing my mane and causing my jaw to hit the ground like dead weight. Sky continued to wait with anticipation, paying no mind to me of being noosed by Rainbow Dash.

_Geez, I'm getting no sympathy up in here. _

I was about to push myself up with my forelimbs until Rainbow tightened the noose around my neck and cleverly warned, "You might wanna stay put for this one, Bolt." She leaned down to my left ear and whispered, "You owe me."

I snorted in irritation and crossed my arms under my chin as Storm reentered the barn, pushing a huge basket full of apples. When he reached to Sky, Storm greatly exhaled from his labor and asked, "What did I miss?" Then his mouth dropped upon seeing me under the restraints of Rainbow Dash and he made a loud gulp, probably seeing a whole new side of Rainbow; her I-don't-take-smack-from-a-stallion attitude.

Sky explained, "Rainbow is going to share with us her side of the past with Firebolt." Then he stared at the basket inquiringly. "Don't you have to pay for those?"

Storm simply shrugged and took one apple to bite into. The light, crisp sound of the apple being sliced by bare teeth made my stomach rumble and mouth moisten; it's been awhile that I've eaten. Rainbow assured Sky, "They're not that expensive. AJ always keeps her sales at the 'modest' price." She imitated her best friend's country accent more accurately and finally began our story. "It all started in St. Cloud Elementary at the playground where Firebolt wanted me to play with some 'taller' friends. Remember that, Bolt?"

I closed my eyes to reminisce that last moment in detail. Before going to school, I had a heated dispute with my father about my bullying issues and he barked at me to stop acting like a filly and stand up for myself. His advice sounded pretty reasonable to me, which lead me to push Rainbow into hanging out with other foals so she won't fight my battles against some of my bullies. But little did I know that even the smallest acts of generosity can cost a huge sacrifice.

I gave a simple nod at her question and Rainbow grew slightly hesitant at admitting, "It was the worst mistake to listen to Firebolt, 'cause after playing with them I couldn't find him anywhere to fly home with. The idea of him flying home without me drove me into rage. And wanting to give him a piece of my mind, I barged into his parent's house. But his mother thought that he was with me. And his father…"

"Don't mention about him!" I interrupted with a scowl.

Sky and Storm gave each other a knowing glance; they've witnessed my father's wrath before.

Rainbow looked at me for awhile, her countenance softening, and began to fidget with the rope knot around her hoofs before replying, "Well, your dad was more furious with me than at you. And you know that he hates me more than anything."

"What have I said before?" I growled in annoyance, but was suddenly taken aback by her gently smoothing down my mane with her free hoof as if to reassure me.

For a brief moment, I paid mind to her soft caresses, sending a tingling sensation from my head to my hoofs, and felt my tension fading away until she pulled her hoof away quickly and cleared her throat. "So uh, moving on… me and his parents had searched all over Cloudsdale for Firebolt until we saw a powerful lightning bolt struck onto the ground… and a colossal wave of fire spread everywhere like crazy. I heard his father mumbling that the weather factory had never planned a fiery lightning bolt before. So we flew down there to check it out. And as if my prayers had been answered, I found Firebolt on the stretcher unconscious and, let me tell you, he was far from looking like a hotshot."

I glared up at her and she quickly explained, "Oh wait scratch that! Your whole body was hot… literally. You were lucky enough to be covered in second degree burns."

Sighing dejectedly, I buried my face in between my arms, recollecting the tragedy; it was nothing but pain and terror.

Rainbow began to loosen the noose a little bit. "I wanted to be at his side the whole time but some nurses made a beef about me being too close to him." She then changed her tone to annoyance. "Too bad he was so full of himself to not notice me by the stretcher." She slapped the back of my head in which I growled, "I was in pain… I came out of a fire for crying out loud."

"But you got your fiery lightning bolt cutie mark. That alone should make you more sensible and awake."

"Yeah whatever, Rainbow." I rolled my eyes, seeing that she hadn't changed a bit since foalhood.

She tightened the noose again and the rope scratched around my neck as she said, "Well just so you know, I've snuck past the nurses and even my own parents to follow you to the hospital. You can't say that I wasn't with you through thick and thin."

My friends didn't catch the hidden hint behind her words; that she was describing the depth of her loyalty towards me as her defense. Looking back up at my friends, she explained, "From outside of his patient ward, I hid behind a big pot of plant in the hallway to keep an eye out for him. And later when his mother saw him, she just broke down. And his father was horrified until he saw Bolt's new cutie mark… that was the only time I've ever seen him smiling at his son." Then Rainbow paused for a moment and I could hear the smile from her voice. "But even that didn't stop you from crying out to your parents that you will never touch the ground ever again."

I felt my stomach dropped and looked up angrily at Rainbow who gave a sly grin and boasted, "Aw but don't worry, your secret fear was safe with me. But," She pulled my mane up again and sneered, "Half the time, you just make me wanna rip your head off; especially when you fly around acting like you're some cool hotshot."

After releasing her grip of my mane, I grumbled, "Hmm… so your jealousy made you give away my secret fear to the public."

"Jealousy?!" Rainbow looked at me as if I was from another planet. "Give me a break! I did it because I wanted to—!" She stopped abruptly and quickly recanted, "I mean, uh…"

"What?" I narrowed my eyes at her with great suspicion.

Rainbow looked slightly tensed and scratched the back of her head anxiously. "Nothing... it was because… I hated you so much."

In a split second, she gave a surprised yelp as I made a death roll and slammed her down on the ground with my back. After yanking the rope out of her grasp, I jumped off into the air before she could kick me with her hind legs. While hovering, I took off the noose and clung tightly onto the rope as she stood up on her fours, snorting in fury. I can almost imagine myself like a circus ring leader taming a wild beast.

"Tell me!" I demanded, tugging the rope to get her to answer. She didn't say another word but smoothed out her disheveled mane and walked slowly back to the wooden post without meeting my eyes.

"Rainbow I'm not gonna ask you again!" I warned.

"I can live with that!" She snapped.

Seeing that she's going to remain silent, I carelessly threw the rope on her head and she whipped around with an evil eye. Perching myself on the second floor, all eyes were on me. After smoothing back my mane leisurely, I looked back at my friends. "Since Rainbow is not gonna say anything, I shall pick up where we left off. Let's start with me coming home from the hospital. The next day, I went back to school and every pony was all over me like white on rice. The past whole month was everything that I wanted, all because of my amazing fiery lightning ability. I was getting noticed…" I shifted my gaze from my friends to Rainbow. "And I love every single moment of it. I became so popular that… yes, even my father was proud of me."

Rainbow replied sarcastically, "How touching! "

"Hey!" I retorted. "You don't know what it's like to have a parent who's ashamed of you!"

"Tough luck!" She rolled her eyes. "But that still doesn't make it right to ditch me."

"I didn't ditch you!"

"Yes. You. Did!" Her voice gave out a high pitched crack which echoed around the room.

Then Sky broke the silence. "How so?"

Rainbow stared down at me for awhile before stomping behind the wooden post and placed her forehead against it, speaking forcibly, "Ever since Bolt became famous, he had stopped talking to me. Believe me when I say this, I tried everything to get him to hang out with me." Then I could hear her tone growing bitter. "But he only preferred to speak to me behind a dumpster; perfect place to hide your friends in secret."

In defense, I flew down from the second floor next to her side and explained, "Look if any pony were to catch us together, they're gonna start asking about why I was associating myself with a notorious filly… And I didn't want to lose our friendship so we had to-"

She punched the wooden post with a loud bang. "THEN LOSE YOUR STUPID REPUTATION INSTEAD OF ME!" Her voice broke out and her bottom lip quivered as she glared at me. Then before she quickly turned away from me, I caught a glimpse of her tear glistening by the moonlight.

Feeling dumbfounded, I glanced at Sky and Storm who stood with gaping mouths at Rainbow's outburst and I looked back at Rainbow who wrapped her tail around herself as she lie down on the patches of hay. Placing her head on the ground, she spoke bluntly, "Pfft, who am I kidding? It was obvious that you were too insecure to give up your reputation to be my loyal friend. So to get back at you, I revealed your secret fear to every pony."

Stunned by her confession, I couldn't decide whether to be furious with her or to apologize. But apologize for what? That I've made her depressed for all those years or that my desire for vengeance is hurting her? Sky Rocket and Storm Cloud are beginning to feel the effects of my poor choices and now my ex best friend is hurting because… I chose my reputation over her.

_Man, I am my father's son._

Call it being compassionate or empathetic, but I lie down next to her and cautiously placed my hoof over her shoulders until she tensed up and growled, "Don't even think about it." She then buried her face into her tucked in legs, leaving me feeling defeated. I was about to open my mouth before an obnoxious belch pierced the gloomy atmosphere.

"Oh my… excuse me." Storm stifled a chuckle but let out a cackle at his own joke as Sky stood up and walked away from him in grotesque. He approached me and Rainbow Dash, looking more concerned than angry. "Firebolt, what did she mean by you being too insecure?"

I was speechless; the idea of confessing to my friends about my life in elementary brought out a familiar feeling from foalhood: timidity. But then Rainbow lifted her head up to see whether I will answer him or not. Then I finally have a growing sense of confidence, either because she makes me feel that I can stand up for myself at the face of humiliation or that Sky Rocket must know that he wasn't alone in having a big bully like me. "Before getting my cutie mark, I was a victim of bullying at my elementary school."

Sky was shocked as well as the dark, blue pegasus who had already flew over our heads and landed next to me. "Get out! You never told us that!" After already revealing of who I truly am, I even got Rainbow to look at me in amazement.

_Yeah Rainbow, you thought that I was too insecure to tell them._

"As a matter of fact," I continued, "There's a reason why I left Rainbow alone playing in the playground. A couple of bullies came behind me and began to pick on me. I tried to ignore them, but they persisted and wind up chasing me down to the outskirts of Cloudsdale. Wanting to escape from them so badly, I hid within some tightly dense clouds; completely unaware that I was charging myself up to be the medium of a lightning bolt. Then one of the taller colts found me and tossed me around like a rag doll with the others. And being very tiny, it was easy for me to have one of my wings get crushed against the heavy weight of an obese colt."

I hesitated in describing the event that followed but grew hopeful that my friends would have the proper understanding to not make fun of me… a pegasus that never walked on land.

"I was freefalling towards the ground and after that I remembered seeing a blinding, white flash. Then the most intensifying loud crackle sounded that almost busted my eardrum. And a huge wave of red, orange, and yellow colors coming my way and engulfed me. I couldn't tell which was more painful, my splintered scapula or the flames burning my flesh. Then the rest was all a blur… At first, I thought this was a nightmare. But this right here told me otherwise." I placed my hoof over my fiery lightning bolt cutie mark on my rump.

Rainbow seemed to ponder after hearing my side of the story while Storm got teary eyed, wearing a huge grin on his face. "Firebolt, you are like the coolest pegasus I've ever met." I was caught off guard by his upbeat reaction to my tragedy and asked perplexedly, "You really think so?"

"I know so!" Storm exclaimed, "Dude you dangerous!" He became so excited that he wrapped me into a bear hug. Feeling my torso squeezing in, I managed to speak, "Uh… ok Storm, this is a little awkward." But Storm then motioned Sky to get into the hug. "Come on, we gotta make him feel better."

Sky looked at Storm incredulously and raised an eyebrow. "Even after he lied to us all this time by his boasting?"

Storm narrowed his eyes at him. "Suck it up, man, he told the truth! And that alone takes guts, am I right Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow gave a weak smile and nodded her head before looking at me in what I hope is compassion, but looked away forlornly.

"Come on Sky…" Storm coaxed with a sing-song voice.

Then Sky looked at me for awhile and gently smiled. "I don't know how you do it, Bolt. But I find it impossible to stay angry with one pony for a long time." He walked up towards me and lies down on the ground in front of me. "Please accept my apology for not being considerate of my insults earlier." I smiled back at him and softly chuckled, "No prob. I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm pretty sure your description was not too far from the truth. Oh… and don't ever think of me as a bully." He nodded in agreement and pulled me into a hug, patting my back, until Storm wrapped both of us in into a tighter hug.

"Storm Cloud!" Sky and I complained through clenched teeth and he released us instantly. "Eh heh heh, sorry guys." He scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Then we all glanced at Rainbow Dash who's still lying next to the post with her eyes towards the ground and her ears tucked down glumly. I felt a nudge on my shoulder and Sky whispered into my right ear, "It's never too late to make things right with her."

Feeling slightly reluctant in taking heed to his advice, I took a deep breath and sidled up closer to her side and gently suggested, "If you want, we can make an exchange deal that will benefit all of us."

Rainbow continued to look the other way and grumbled, "Just so you know, this conversation hadn't changed a thing between us. I still don't regret of destroying your rep." Then she shot a bitter glance at me. "And whatever happens in this barn stays in this barn." She cupped her hoof onto my chin and pulled my face close to hers that her vibrant colored eyes closed in on mine. "You got that?"

Despite of her threat instantly reviving my hatred towards her, I decided to be the bigger person here and kept my cool. "Well in that case, it would be fair for me to say that I have no regret in destroying your friendship. But since our last conversation had shed some light to my understanding, I'm gonna go easier on you."

Rainbow pulled away from me and slowly crossed her arms while staring down at me. "I'm listening…"

"I'll release you from those restraints if you're willing to stop pressing charges against me and my friends for breaking and entering into your home." Rainbow opened her mouth to retaliate but I placed my hoof on her muzzle. "And… seeing that you're really good at maintaining your daredevil image, you're gonna help me get my reputation back. In return, I'll help you regain your loyalty to your friends."

After smacking my hoof off her mouth, she gave me a condescending look, "How are you gonna help me make things right with my friends?"

I pointed at Sky and Storm. "You see these two stallions? They've grown to like you a lot after spending time with you."

Rainbow looked back at her wings being tied up with a water hose and rubbed her face against her hoof to relieve an itch from the rope halter. "Uh… I'm not feeling the love just yet."

I continued my proposition, "My people will tell your people that they've saved you from the evil clutches of Firebolt and then your friends will hug you with tears in their eyes. Twilight will fall in love with Sky. And Rarity will finally notice Storm."

Sky smiled coyly and focused his attention in circling the dirt around with his hoof while Storm covered his mouth to contain his excitement but flew up into the air cheering, "Woohoo! Uh huh! Look at my bad self!"

Rainbow began to ponder on my words while looking down at the ground and finally looked back at me curiously. "What about you?"

I smirked a little and shook my mane leisurely. "Well when I have my reputation back, I will forever be a happy camper… that's only if you can make it happen."

Rainbow rolled her eyes at me but began gently knocking her forehead with her hoof while mumbling, "Come on think, think, think, think, think…" Then her eyes lit up with an epiphany but looked uneasy. "Ok, this might sound crazy but I'm gonna need Storm and Sky to… um leave us alone in the barn."

Storm froze in midair upon hearing her idea and then chuckled. "Oh ok… whatever you say, Rainbow Dash." He teased her with a wink. Then we heard a loud rumble from where Sky is standing and he wrapped his wings around his stomach anxiously. "Oh pardon me, I just hadn't eaten for awhile and Storm Cloud had finished all the apples in the basket." He pointed at the tilted basket with discarded apple cores all over the floor. "In the meantime, Storm and I will pick out some more." Before leaving the barn, Sky shot me a don't-do-anything-stupid look whereas Storm cried out, "Don't worry, you two just take your time…"

"Storm Cloud!" Sky shouted disapprovingly at the dark blue pegasus who grabbed the basket and cackled on the way out of the barn.

Suspicious of Rainbow's ludicrous idea, I asked her, "So we have a deal then?"

She firmly nodded. "Let's do this." She spit onto her hoof and held it out in front of me. I hesitated a little at the idea of touching saliva.

"Come on Bolt, you know me for how long? Don't leave me hanging." She mocked. Determined to keep my dignity, I spit onto my hoof and sealed the deal.

**hows the plot and characters? good? accurate? how about some of the dialogue? does it seem real?**

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	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for taking so long school got the best of us. However, this story is nice and long so we hope it lasts long enough for us to update the story agaian!**

**Enjoy.**

Firebolt

Chapter 10

_I must be insane to forsake my original plans for this exchange deal._

With the barn full of great hiding places, I could have the luxury to watch Rainbow crumble under total humiliation when that cowgirl returns from the fashion show. Hatred will consume her friend's reasoning and compel her to stop helping Rainbow in locking me and my friends up in prison. But that vicious cycle won't end there… eventually, the cowgirl will convince the other mares to follow her example. My plan was foolproof. So why in the world am I helping my nemesis to regain back her loyalty?

Rainbow's simple head gesture towards the tight rope knot high above the wall post served as a hidden reminder. The idea of my nemesis giving back my old fame was all too tempting to resist. Yet that convenient exchange didn't help calm my nerves. Just because she's loyal enough to give me my share of the deal doesn't mean that she will actually succeed.

After she kicked Sky Rocket and Storm Cloud out of the barn, my suspicions intensified even more as I flew up towards the wooden post and worked my hoofs around the tightly constricted rope knot.

Despite of the pitch black darkness that blankets the entire room, the scattered rays of moonlight pouring through the small, obscured windows, revealing flying sawdust particles, had illuminated the wide open space near the wooden double doors. Towers of haystacks and empty barrels covered nearly half of the first floor while more are stored further back as well as some miscellaneous farm equipment that are poking out of the shadows.

"Hey, I'm not getting any younger down here!" Rainbow's annoying voice reverberated from below. Thinking of slapping a fresh strip of duct tape across her mouth, I unraveled the loosened knot with my teeth and wrapped the rope around my arm and torso for a firm hold. The sooner we finish this deal, the sooner we won't have to put up with each other's presence. I landed next to her until she nodded towards the lantern next to the empty barrels. "Bring that with us, we're gonna need some light."

I gave her a reluctant snort, but quickly regretted of doing so since she gladly took that as her advantage to open her mouth once again. "Hey if you want your reputation back, you have to do as I say." She stomped her hoof with authority. "Now do as I say!"

Sucking air in between my teeth, I walked over to the lantern, contemplating the irony of a pony in hostage ordering her captor around, when her diary, the bulletin list, and Sky's saddlebag caught the corner of my eye. They were still lying on the ground next to the glowing lantern, well hidden behind a couple of empty apple barrels… out of Rainbow's sight. Before grabbing the lantern, I stuffed her diary and the list in the saddlebag, threw it deeper into the maze of haystacks, and kicked patches of hay over the item. Satisfied of my endeavor, I turned around and stumbled upon Rainbow's face near mine.

"What you got there, Bolt?" She asked sharply.

Already irritated by her nosiness, I used my whole body to push her towards the lantern and muttered, "A lantern… duh."

After I picked up the lantern, she let out a low grunt and pushed her body against my shoulders while walking into the dark shadows. Swallowing down the impulse to shove her head into a haystack, I walked over to her side to shed some light in front of us, meeting her own steady pace. The sound of our hoofs crunched the dry hay and dirt. The aroma of dry vegetation and manure wafted my senses. Rainbow kept a forced dead silence between us without sparing an acknowledging glance at me. I gladly took her doggedness as an opportunity to observe some equipment that just entered within the light's vicinity. A wheelbarrow filled with manure was parked next to a couple of shovels leaning against the wall and some more empty barrels and tightly wrapped haystacks all over the place. Then a guttural squeal interrupted the silence, making my fur stand up until we walk upon an enclosed wooden pig pen. The fat, pink creatures slumbered peacefully on their round sides. Exhaustion hit me hard; one night sleep at the hospital was not enough for me to stay up late at night. The pungent smell of livestock and manure, however, awakened me. It's more overwhelming than Storm Cloud's month's worth of dirty laundry.

My eyes watered and I slapped my hoof onto my nose instantly. Rainbow saw my gesture and mocked, "Let me guess, you've never smelled pigs before." Still holding on to my nose, I ignored her remark and walked past her in hopes to escape from this area. She stifled a chuckle and called out from behind me as I kept on walking, "Keep your eyes open for a ramp. It's just up ahead."

Being true to her words, the lantern shown a wooden ramp that's slanted at a somewhat steep angle, the surface covered with stepping grooves. I stopped by the foot of it, knowing that my one-day experience of walking on land hadn't yet encouraged me to climb up steep angles.

_Dumb gravity…_

Glancing back at Rainbow, I saw her walked around the ramp and followed her to find a large assortment of stacked up wooden boxes. She picked up a crowbar next to the boxes, thrust it into an open crevice, and popped the box lid open without difficulty. Hundreds of unlit fire torches spilled out all at once as Rainbow leaned her elbow against the box, wearing a smug grin.

I stared at the contents and looked up at her, my tone drenched in contempt. "Torches? That's your idea of getting my reputation back? Torches?! What kinda guy do you thi-?"

She raised her hoof up to my face and replied coolly, "No no, don't thank me yet. There's more…" She walked around me to hop onto the wooden ramp and placed one hoof after the other in each groove. Not wanting to make a fool of myself in front of Rainbow, I decided to take the easy way out: fly over it.

Rainbow saw me soar over her head and land on top of the ramp. She rolled her eyes while exhaling condescendingly. Feeling proud of myself, I returned her a smirk, sensing her hidden envy in me having the liberty to spread my wings, as she walked towards the second floor that's made up of sturdy wooden planks. As the floorboards creaked under the weight of our hoofs, the lantern lit up some more haystacks that covered half of the upper floor and barrels, this time, filled with apples to the brim.

"Guess Storm Cloud and Sky Rocket didn't have to go out and pick apples after all." I commented out loud.

"I prefer them picking apples outside than to eat all of Applejack's hard work." Rainbow simply replied, "But that's not the only reason." She walked over to a hoof-carved constructing table, situated against a wall that's taped with numerous painted pictures. I was about to take a closer look at them when my hoof stepped on something that made me trip over and slammed my forehead against something hard. Pitch blackness overcame the room when the lantern dropped onto the floor and the floor itself shook at my fall. Rainbow broke the repetitive ringing in my ears with an indifferent remark. "Don't step on that wagon."

Lying on my belly, I rubbed my temples to relieve the throbbing pain and let my eyes adjust before looking up to see what got me square in the head… a wooden fence, built like a balcony with a bird eye view of the entire first floor. I sneezed out some sawdust and groaned while slowly standing back up on my four legs and turned to see a red wagon and the lantern with a crack on its side. Then I heard some hoofs rummaging through what sound like items in a box until a light beam flashed on, revealing Rainbow Dash holding a flashlight in her mouth. Within the light's vicinity, a cardboard box was pulled out from underneath the constructing table where some used paint cans are stored. Then I saw a couple of painted pictures of what look like the cowgirl's family members, three little fillies playing, and then a painting of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Rainbow's scraggly blue arm hooked itself around Fluttershy's yellow square shoulders while Fluttershy wore a tiny black smile with red circles around her cheeks and pink mane covering half of her face.

I stepped towards the light beam before Rainbow flashed it into my eyes. "Ah, watch where you point that thing!"

"Eh, you'll get over it. If you're not Mr. Sensitive, that is." She said with the flashlight in her mouth and walked away from the table to the dustier parts of the floor.

After following her, I leaned against a haystack on my side, my hoof crossing over the other, and watched her put down the flashlight. She stood there for a moment and slowly rubbed the back of her head in meditation.

"Having second thoughts?" I asked with slight impatience..

Her countenance slowly grew serious as she finally looked up at me, her brows furrowed. "That plan of yours in getting me on my friends' good side better work."

"Chillax, I know what I'm doing." I waved her off without meeting her gaze.

She finally crouched down and began tapping her hoof against the wood in various places. "What I'm about to show you is inside my friend's secret hiding stash. But you must not tell any pony about this. Got it?"

I shrugged nonchalantly, caring less of her friend's business if not wondering how Rainbow managed to find out about her secret stash. "Sure, whatever."

After awhile of listening to wood tapping, the idea of Rainbow Dash befriending Fluttershy came into mind and I decided to make conversation. "So how long had you known Fluttershy?"

Taken aback at my question, Rainbow raised her head to face me suspiciously, "Why do you care?"

I shrugged. "Just curious. I mean, I've never really talked to her while growing up and she seemed like a nice mare."

Rainbow suddenly looked defensive. "Don't get any ideas of trying to be friends with her. She doesn't need a selfish pony like you to later ditch her whenever he feels like it."

I exhaled a long sigh in irritation and scratched the back of my head.

_Here we go again…_

"Speak for yourself, Rainbow Dash. But I for one would kill myself if I were to hurt her in that way."

Then she suddenly butted her head into mine. "And why is that? Do you have a crush on her or something?!"

"What kinda question is that?! Of course not!" I snapped, despite of feeling slightly relieved. Her retarded question implied that she had completely forgotten about Storm's earlier accusation of me checking her out. Yet I'm still amazed that she would assume that my romantic interest is my main reason to befriend Fluttershy.

I pulled my face away from her, feeling surprisingly drained from always being angry with her. "It's just that Fluttershy had been nothing but kind to me ever since I've dropped by to Ponyville… unlike your other friends." I muttered grudgingly at the end.

She hesitated for a moment and then resorted to asking, "Then how am I any different from her?!"

"Well for one, she didn't blurt out my secret fear to all of Equestria!" I glared at her as she opened her mouth to retaliate but softened in thought.

She then blew her long mane off her face and returned her attention to tapping the floorboard, muttering under her breath, "Whatever. Can't believe she's doing this to me. Always messing with me about…" She let out a low, frustrated growl and began knocking on the floor.

I could almost hear Sky Rocket advising me to leave an angry pony alone to cool off, but chucked the nagging conscience out the window. Rainbow's frustration is just too entertaining to not push her buttons. "Maybe because you're too much of a mule to listen to her." Her hostile glance made me snicker, "Just listen to what Fluttershy has to say and she won't mess with you."

"Shut your trap, Bolt! You don't know anything." She shook her head at me and returned to tapping on the floor in an attempt to ignore me.

Feeling amused, I placed my hoof next to her tapping hoof, expecting her to look at me. She froze in place but looked away from me with a pout. That girl will never change! So I wrap my hoof around her rope halter and gently pull her face towards me. "Oh but I do know. Fluttershy had 'joked' that we should be friends again… and you didn't take her seriously."

She slapped my hoof away and fixed a stern glare at me. "Hey, I've known her since foalhood back at summer flying academy! You weren't there when I had defended her honor whenever she was teased for her poor flying skills. So don't tell me that I don't take her seriously!" She stomped the floorboards with a loud thump and cracked a loose wooden plank. We stared down at it in amazement as Rainbow eagerly slid it open to reveal a secret storage compartment. I peeked over to see stacks of paper thin folders and scatters of official looking documents. Rainbow blew away the dust in the compartment. My nose tickled and I turned my face away to sneeze.

"Gesundheit." Rainbow replied, pulling out a crinkled receipt and showed it to me under the flashlight's beam. "This is the key to get your reputation back. Those fire torches down there are not your ordinary torches. They're specially manufactured to stay lit for months without washing out from the rain. Applejack needs them to light up the forest path at night so she and her family can walk home safely. Are you with me so far?"

I nodded.

"Show this to your weather manager. It'll convince him that the earth ponies need those torches lit up and he'll set up a date for you to perform your fiery lightning bolt once again. But if that doesn't work, you can drop my name in the conversation. Every pegasus worker at the factory respects me… well almost." She nudged her shoulder against mine.

Not caring too much of her remark, I said, "This is great and all but if that's the case then I can just ask my weather manager that I wanna perform my talent again."

She shook her head as if I'm naive. "Not with your new reputation as the pegasus who never walked on land. No manager, not even yours, will ever buy into your words alone… unless you're me. Loyal, awesome, cool, radical, amaz-"

"Alright I get it!" I snapped at her but she only gave a wink with an air of pride and casually wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "Think of this receipt as tangible proof of your bravery against the ground. Then of course, you'll perform your talent… and become famous again." She muttered grudgingly.

As I tucked the receipt into my wing, the thought of every pony praising my name once again brought in fresh hope. Life will be back to normal just the way I like it.

"Now release me." Rainbow asserted.

I chuckled at her sheer ignorance. "First of all chick, we need Sky's lighter to burn that halter. And second, I say when I wanna release you."

Without paying mind to my response, she grabbed the flashlight and strode towards the constructing table, pulling me by the rope to follow her. She dug through the box again, pulled out a wood carving knife, and placed it on the table along with the flashlight. "Lucky for you, you've tied up a pony who knows how to keep her end of the deal." She wrapped her hoof around the rope tossed around my torso and pulled me close to meet her eyes, cold as steel. "Better keep yours."

Her bold suggestion made me slightly hesitant of picking up the knife until she sneered, "Oh I see, afraid that I'll break off the deal once I'm free." I pushed her away with my body, placed my hoof next to the knife and glared at her. "If my friends weren't involved in this predicament, I wouldn't care too much of what you'll do to our deal. So as for now, I have every right to be suspicious of you."

She shook her head both amusingly and incredulously. "So you thought kidnapping me will solve your friends' problem?"

I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to let her in on my motives behind the previous plot, and finally replied, "It's better than crawling on my knees, begging you to not press charges against us."

She only looked at me for a bit before giving an impish grin and leaned against the table on her side with her hoof casually crossed over the other. "Dude you're sick. Have to admit that I'm seeing a new side of you; you got guts. Relentless, at that." She placed her hoof on the knife and paused in thought. "Hm, I guess I can see why you've kidnapped me. I probably would've done the same thing if you were trying to send me to jail."

I watched her play with the knife's handle against the white light beam and replied cautiously, "Well then, I'm glad there's at least one thing that we can see eye to eye."

She stopped playing with the knife and looked up at me. "Maybe… unless you agree to cut me loose." She slid the knife across the table for me to catch it.

After taking a deep breath, I picked up the knife with my mouth and tucked my hoof under the halter to pull a rope section off of her face. The blade sliced the rope cleanly with a crisp snap, and I dropped it nonchalantly to grab the rope halter by the teeth over her ears. Unfortunately, the whole process of removing her halter felt like hours. My muzzle over her head, I tried to ignore Rainbow softly breathing down my neck. Its warmth sending shivers throughout my body. My conscience screaming the word "awkward" as I finally slid the rope halter down to her muzzle in which I quickly recanted, letting the halter drop from her face.

Not seeming to notice the awkwardness, she shook her whole mane and rubbed her face against her hoofs with a sigh of relief. My firm grip on the rope proved meaningless and I unraveled it off my torso and arms until a light clearing of the throat sounded. Rainbow turned herself around for me to untie the water hose still restraining her wings. Putting up a front of indifference, I pulled the hose upward by the teeth and loosened the knot with my hoofs. Then without difficulty, she spread out her wings and shot up into the air, leaving a dome of light, yellow sawdust behind her.

The fear of her escaping from the barn induced me to grab the flashlight with my hoofs and fly up into the darkness in search for the cyan pegasus. "Rainbow, remember our deal!" I warned.

"Lighten up old-timer! I'm stretching out my wings for a bit." Her light raspy voice echoed from the pitch blackness and the sound of her feathered wings flapping whizzed past me and then behind me. I whirled around and flashed the light in her direction but only caught a blur of rainbow colors by a second. She gave out what sounded like a low sinister chuckle by my left ear. Her wings then whistled against the air current as if she's diving down and returning back up towards the roof of the barn. Then a huge wind current caught me by surprise as it blew over my mane and before I knew it, I could sense her presence behind me. She whispered into my ear, "Looking for me?"

Her sheer audacity of picking on me in my state of anxiety made my blood boil. I whirled around to grab her but she already left and flew around me once in awhile to tap me in the shoulder. "Too slow!"

_Well, two can play that game…_

I landed on top of a towering haystack from the first floor and turned off the flashlight. I wait for my eyes to adjust and strained to listen for the flapping of her wings and her sleek body swiftly cutting through the dense, dry atmosphere. Then I found the shaded contours of her body hovering perilously right before me. She seemed unsure of what to make of the lack of lighting. A grin formed at the corner of my mouth as I pumped my wings, snatched her out of thin air, and dropped to the ground with her while tumbling into haystacks. Dirt flew around us as I pinned her down to her back and pressed my hoofs against hers. Her eyes flashing, she grabbed a mouthful of my mane and growled, "Get off of me!"

"Ow I can't, stupid! You're pulling my mane!" I pulled back to free myself but she wouldn't relent.

She yanked my mane down. "Take that back!"

"Take what back?!" I pulled back, my scalp burning in thousands of pinpricks.

"For calling me stupid!"

Infuriated, I snatched a long strand of her rainbow mane with my teeth from the back of her neck. "Tell you what, release my mane or else I'll tear yours!"

"That's it! You're dead!"

Suddenly a barn door busted open. I sat straight up, my heart pounding, and saw two pegasi figures zoomed inside and slammed the door shut. One of them jammed a huge wooden plank in between the barn door handles. The other held his head up, looking in our direction and a familiar nerdish voice sounded, "Firebolt! We got company! That cowgirl is heading this way!"

Rainbow stood up attentively as I shot up into the air in shock. "You led the cowgirl here?!"

"She only saw Storm Cloud's shadow a couple yards away." Sky explained, "And flying away without you is out of the question." He pressed his ear against the barn door to listen for sounds of galloping hoofs, his breathing remained controlled.

"We're dead…" Storm whined, backing away from the double doors. "Her friends are here to kill us…!"

"Woohoo!" Rainbow cheered, "My prayers had been answered!" She ran up to the door before I dove down and swept her off the ground.

Rainbow shouted, "Hey what gi-?!" My hoof cupped her mouth.

"What you think this is? A family reunion? We have a deal." I whispered through gritted teeth into her ear. She whipped around and shoved me away from her. "So what are we waiting for? Let's finish this before my friends get here."

"Bolt, don't you think it's too late to help Rainbow with her friends now?" Sky Rocket asked, flying around in search for something.

Upon hearing Sky's reasoning, Rainbow shot a nasty scowl in my direction, her tail whipping angrily. Her body language says it all; you're an epic failure.

Storm Cloud flew up to our level to soften the growing tension. "Not if the cowgirl doesn't suspect we're in here."

Suddenly a loud bang echoed from the other side of the door as my blood instantly turned icy cold. "I don't allow trespassers on mah property, ya hear?! Open up!" A female voice cried out with a strong country accent.

"Applejack!" Rainbow cried and flew towards the door before I shoved her against a wall post, pressing my full weight against her back as she thrashed about wildly, my hoof cupping her mouth once again.

Storm's mouth dropped while Sky flew around frantically. "I know I've placed it here somewhere… Bolt, where's my saddlebag?"

"I've hidden it already with the diary and the list. Guys, go hide!" I whispered fiercely.

"Wha th-?!" Rainbow muffled from under my hoof.

Storm didn't hesitate and flew up to the second floor while Sky stood behind, panic rising in his tone. "Wait, what about you?"

"Go now!"

Another loud bang made my insides jolt and convinced Sky to fly hard after Storm. My breath getting shallower, I focused all my adrenaline in restraining Rainbow.

_Ok Bolt, it's you against the mares! Just find a hiding place! _

Then another loud bang cracked the door slightly open. The wooden plank still remained in the handles. "Open up, I tell ya!"

Using the moonlight as my guide, I wrapped my arms around Rainbow's forelegs and soar through the towering haystacks. Then her head broke free from my grasp and she took a bite on my wrist. "Oww!" The pain coursed through my arm as Rainbow fell, spread her wings out before hitting the ground, and disappeared into the darkness.

My heart pounding rapidly, I flew after her, straining to listen for the sound of her wings above the heightening volume of more female voices and banging doors. I groped around for any signs of Rainbow; a flicker of her tail, the faint sound of her wings slicing the air current, an abnormal breeze pattern, or even her body slamming into me. Suddenly my hoofs touched a dry block of vegetation. It reached up from the ground to my altitude level. I waited there until I sensed a wind current somewhere below me. There was a pony figure hovering cautiously over the ground.

_I got you now, Rainbow…_

Then she zoomed towards the doors. By impulse, I spun around and kicked the towering haystack. The tower tipped over and slapped her down into the ground. A loud groan sounded from under the pile as I hovered over and began digging through it until her head popped up, spitting out strands of hay. Before I could grab her, she threw hay into my face. I rubbed it off my face before coming in contact with a barrel. I flipped over and fell to the ground on my shoulder. My head throbbed endlessly as I caught Rainbow dashing towards the doors but halted when a female voice muffled from outside. "Stand back girls, this is going to get messy."

Out of nowhere, an unfamiliar energy surrounded the room, debris and loose hay rolling past me and towards the double doors. My mane and tail began to blew towards the source from outside. Then a pink light bordered around its crevices, glowing brighter by every second.

Rainbow spun around and ran back towards me anxiously, as if familiar of its powerful effects. "Take cover!" She shouted.

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion shook the whole barn. The unbearable pink light penetrated its way into the dark corners. Wooden chunks and splinters flew all over the place, with a residual hue of magical sparks. I crawled myself behind a couple of barrels, squeezing myself into the dark shadows, my heart threatening to come out of my chest. I could taste the salt on my lips as I peeked around the corner to see Twilight Sparkle standing hunched over, panting heavily with her horn glowing bright pink. The barn doors behind her had been demolished into rubble.

The moonlight spilled over the ground, exposing Rainbow Dash sprawled next to the haystacks, moaning painfully and rubbing her head. The five mares swarmed around the room in seconds, their dark shadows creeping towards the cyan pegasus.

Fluttershy's face lit up at the sight of her pegasus friend. "Oh Rainbow Dash, you're ok!" She flew over to her and gently wrapped her arms around her neck in a warm embrace.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack stood flabbergasted as I looked over to see Rainbow lying next to an empty apple basket with Storm's consumed apple cores all over the place. "So let me get this straight. While we're all busy struttin' around in our hoity-toity dresses, you've been stuffin' your face with mah apples?"

"No! It wasn't me!" Rainbow shouted in distress. "It was-!"

Pinkie Pie shouted gleefully, "Surprise!" Then she quickly gushed into a fast-paced speech all in one breath. "Were you surprised, huh huh huh?! I was surprised! To see you in Applejack's barn! Earlier I was like 'Where's Rainbow Dash?!' and we were all like worried about you and looked everywhere in Ponyville to find you! But then Applejack had to go home and we walked down a freakishly dark forest! And then Applejack was like 'Ah sure hope we find Rainbow Dash' and then voila! You were eating an apple tree!"

I looked up to see my friends hiding in the upper floor through the crevices of the wooden floorboards. Sky's dark silhouette stood against the scattered rays of moonlight while Storm sat next to the constructing table with paint cans.

"Pinkie!" Rainbow shouted, "I was not eating an apple tree!"

Then the pink pony rubbed her hoof against her chin, looking suspiciously at her. "Maybe or maybe not… but no pony, not even an apple tree eating pegasus, breaks a Pinkie promise."

"Wait, I can explain!" Rainbow pleaded.

"Good heavens…" Rarity had walked over to caress Rainbow's disheveled mane with her white, polished hoof, but pulled it back in horror when she discovered a dark bruise along her shoulder. "How did you get into this horrid appearance? You look like you've been mauled or something."

The open doorway behind the mares is starting to look like my only hope for me and my friends to escape. I just need to get up to the second floor and find them by going up that ramp. Pushing myself further into the darkness, I walked carefully towards the back of the barn while reaching out my hoof to feel my way around.

"Oh my…" Fluttershy gaped as I whipped around, my wings ready to take flight. But the shy pegasus placed her hoof next to Rainbow's bruise. "Don't worry, an ice pack will do the trick to keep it from swelling."

I took deep breaths and reminded myself that they can't see me in the dark. So I ventured forward, my hoof touching the wheel barrow and my legs grazing by some hay stacks and shovels.

Rarity then lifted her nose in a huff. "But I would have to agree with Pinkie; I simply cannot imagine why you would go back on your word and with such brashness at that. Can't you see how much precious time had been wasted in not attending your own modeling rehearsal?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Rainbow hovered over her friends. "Firebolt and his friends had tied me up with the rope and water hose and locked me up in here. They forced me to break my Pinkie promise."

All the mares gasped with Pinkie Pie being the loudest while Twilight had just finished examining the wound and asked, "If that's the case, then why are you not tied up?"

Twilight's question quickly grabbed my interest. Perhaps the second bulletin on our checklist is working!

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. "Uh, see… Firebolt and I made this deal… that he'll release me if I help him get his reputation back."

The mares only stared at her in confusion. "Well uh, I guess that was mighty generous of him for releasin' you, considerin' that some ponies are still laughin' at him till this day." Applejack replied skeptically.

"Generous?! He kidnapped me, AJ!" Rainbow threw her hoofs up in the air.

Applejack took off her hat to scratch the side of her blonde mane before replacing it back on. "Then if what yer sayin' is true, where's Firebolt now?"

I held in my breath and pressed hard against the wall post and some barrels as Rainbow Dash hovered into the air, scanning the area where the pig pen and the ramp are located. "Firebolt, I know you're around here! SHOW YOURSELF!"

_Screw that, chick… Think I'm stupid? _

Applejack cocked an eyebrow at her but walked towards the wall post that had once carried the lantern. "Gonedarnit, where's mah lantern?"

"Firebolt broke it! It's up on the second floor." Rainbow pointed out, turning to face the cowgirl.

_Rainbow, do Equestria a favor and shut up._

"I can help you with that, Applejack." Twilight said as she closed her eyes and her horn illuminated into a bright pink color. Rarity followed suit; her horn glowing into a soft blue shade.

"Aw thanks Twilight! Mind followin' me up the ramp?" Applejack asked modestly and Twilight nodded her head.

Fear lodged in my throat as Twilight's light inches its way in my direction. I pressed myself behind the haystack before she passed by following Applejack with Fluttershy, their hoofs crunching the dirt and hay. I turned around and sneaked deeper into the maze of haystacks and pressed myself against one. The haystack suddenly shook under the weight of a pony. I glanced up to see Pinkie Pie standing right above me. "Ohh this is like a game of hide-n-seek, but in the dark! My favorite!" Frozen in place, I waited for the pink pony to hop away but she only glanced back and chimed, "Come on Miss Fashionista, we're breaking nightlight!"

On my right, behind the wall of empty barrels, Rarity carefully tiptoed around the chaotic mess of haystacks. "Ugh, talk about not having your beauty sleep at this time of evening… Oh dear… I just had my hoofs manicured!"

The pink pony finally hopped onto the other haystacks as I eased my way past the wall of barrels. Rarity's blue light faded from a distance as I creep up towards the open doorway, bidding me to escape, until I heard some pony whisper, "Psst, Firebolt. Up here."

I looked up to see a dark blue hoof waving at me through a wide crevice. I climbed up the haystacks towards Storm Cloud until I sensed an abnormal breeze pattern coming towards me. I ducked behind another haystack as a pegasus flew passed me and headed towards the gorgeous, white unicorn, who paused to socialize with her friend. Rainbow hid her hoofs behind her back while trying to avoid Rarity's gaze. "So uh… are you, you know, still mad at me for the whole fashion thing?"

Rarity pursed her lips and fluffed her violet, curly mane. "Well to be frank, I was just a little peeved of the inconvenience." But then spoke more compassionately. "But all in all, I have already forgiven you, even before you told me that Firebolt is behind all this."

_Forgiven… that easily?_

Relief washed over Rainbow's face. "Phew, and for a minute there I thought you guys will hate me forever."

"Hate you?" Fluttershy intervened, walking towards them with Pinkie hopping beside her. "Oh, never. We're your best friends."

"Yeah duh! I mean, what good is a friend who suddenly hates you?" Pinkie added enthusiastically.

Rainbow crossed her arms and muttered, "I can name one pony."

I rolled my eyes at her comment until Sky whispered from above, his voice shaking. "Bolt, Applejack and Twilight are coming towards us. Any ideas?"

Thinking quickly, I looked around and saw a pig pen close to the ramp. "Give me some apples."

Sky stood there looking confused while Storm didn't hesitate to drop some apples into the crevice. I grabbed one in my mouth and flung it. The apple struck the pig's head, causing it to squeal wildly. And just as I expected, Applejack and Twilight ran back down the ramp to investigate the commotion with the rest of the mares.

I motioned my friends to fly down from the balcony and they hid behind the haystacks, waiting for me to meet them there. After checking to see Rainbow hovering over the pig pen, watching Fluttershy nuzzle the startled pig, I glided down next to the stallions.

"Wait," Sky replied, "We need to get my saddlebag."

"Are you crazy?" Storm asked incredulously. "Let's get out of here."

"And let Twilight find some evidence in it?"

Storm and I stood silent before I peeked over the haystack to find the bag's location closer to the pig pen. I gulped one last time and slowly crouch my way towards the middle of the barn. Sky watched me from the corner as Storm followed me from behind. As we ventured close to our destination, my eyes kept shifting towards the mares repetitively. Then Storm whispered, "I don't see Pinkie Pie anywhere."

He was right; Pinkie had already left her friends by the pig pen without a trace. My breathing quickened. "Storm, cover for me." I began digging for the saddlebag as Storm looked around and checked the mares from a distance. I brushed off the dirt and grabbed the saddlebag by the handle until Storm pulled me behind an empty barrel and cupped my mouth.

"Hey, wha the…" I muffled out loud before Storm shushed me and pointed at the pink pony bouncing across the haystacks towards us. She stopped suddenly at the sight of the fresh overturned dirt next to the saddlebag. "I found a saddlebag!" Pinkie cried in delight.

The mares surrounded the area all at once with Fluttershy standing on the other side of the barrel, whimpering fearfully, "Oh good, now we can go home and… get away from the dark."

Twilight levitated the saddlebag with her magic and squinted her eyes to read a stitched message on its side: "Property of Sky Rocket. Love, Mom."

"Awwww…" Half of the mares chorused as Rainbow landed next to Fluttershy and stuffed her hoof into the bag.

"Rainbow, you can't just rummage into other pony's stuff." Twilight scolded until the pegasus pulled out the bulletin checklist.

"If they wanna play dirty, we'll have to play by their rules." Rainbow asserted as she reached into it again and pulled out her diary. "Omigosh!" She hugged her diary against her chest. "I will never part with you again!" Her happy reunion instantly ended when she noticed that her friends were watching her amusingly and she cleared her throat. "Yeah well… I'm glad this book is in better hoofs."

Twilight read through the checklist and her mouth dropped as if she saw a ghost. "I… didn't think Sky would go this far."

"Let me see, let me see, let me see!" Pinkie shouted until Rainbow snatched it and skimmed through the checklist herself. Her mouth also dropped before gritting her teeth indignantly and thrust the list on the ground. "That's it! I'm sending this scumbag to jail!"

Applejack picked up the checklist for the rest to read. "Why that little…! I'm a fixin' to crack a whip on that boy! Who does he think he is tryin' to mess with our friendship?!"

Fluttershy cupped her mouth with her hoofs. "No… there must be some misunderstanding."

"He's the meanest kind of meanie mcmeaner pants! This calls for extreme measures!" Pinkie exclaimed.

_Uh… oh… _

Twilight stood silent for awhile before Rarity gently lifted her chin up to meet her gaze. "Oh darling, I understand what you're feeling right now. It goes to show that all stallions will eventually reveal their true colors."

Rainbow Dash shouted, "Firebolt is about to face my true colors- ALL SIX OF THEM!" Out of fury, she gave a powerful kick into the barrel and hit me across the face.

I groaned at the searing pain as Storm tried to grab me but froze when the unicorns' pink and blue light flashed at us.

**How was the story so far? You like a da end of de chapter no?**

**Please review so we can make chapters better and faster! We are writing chapter 11 at the moment.**


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